Don't Die Hard, Naruto
by Mari Falcon
Summary: What did they want? They had stormed in, killing all resistance, taking hostages.Naruto reached up and wiped the sweat off his forehead.Couldn't they at least turn the air conditioning on?
1. Prologue

So, this is a prologue for a new fic I'm writing. It was inspired by the "Die Hard" movies. I just saw all four of them, and loved all four of them. So I figured, for my readers who want more action, since there isn't much in "If Only," you can read this. Of course, if I get bad reviews for this, I'll stop and concentrate on my other story, which people like.

This is just the prologue, a preview if you will. If it sounds good, let me know and I'll keep going.

Whoever else saw "Live Free or Die Hard" was it not the best movie ever? I loved it and was very glad and surprised that they cut down the swearing so much. But it was awesome.

Also, if anyone has a better suggestion for a title, please let me know.

Okay, I was gonna say something else, but for the life of me, I can't reme--oh! Right, for those of you that have read "If Only: the Tailor Interlude" there is a small reference to this in it. If I keep writing, you'll figure it out. 'K, that's all.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or "Die Hard"

Prologue

Naruto reached up and wiped the sweat off his brow. _What did they want? _

They had stormed into the place, taking it over, killing all resistance.

They had taken everyone hostage, demanding that some guy named Fyoja Mineo must be released from prison. _Who the hell is Fyoja Mineo? _

When their request wasn't complied with the first time, they blew up a building, they didn't kill any hostages. Why blow up a building in the middle of town when you've got twenty civilian hostages at your fingertips?

Naruto reached in his pack and whipped out the city map. His fingers traced over it. Okay, the building that the terrorists had destroyed was some bakery, right in the heart of town. It was on the same block as the Mizukage building. In fact, it was only one building away. It went, the bakery, then the Mist Village's Main Bank, then the Mizukage building.

_Why a bakery? That doesn't make sense. Does this terrorist dude hate cake or something?_

A comment from the head terrorist, Fyoja Roka, surfaced in Naruto's turmoiled brain. _"We have informants everywhere, boy." _

Kakashi-sensei. _"Look underneath the underneath."_

Naruto lifted his head; someone was coming. He scooped up his stuff and ran down the hallway, then used a move he remembered well from his pranking days. He planted his feet on either side of the wall and shimmied up it until he was well above the level of the man's head. He then shifted forward so that he was hidden by an arch. The man patrolled by him, not glancing up. _Suckers. No one ever looks up._

Naruto let himself down silently and snuck into a room that no one was using. _Okay. I'm missing something. It's right there, I know it._

He closed his eyes and ran through everything that had happened.

_Informants, plants everywhere. It sounded like he'd been planning this for ages. _

Naruto rubbed his face. His brain was starting to hurt.

_What if, what if there are plants in the ninja force? No, all of them have already admitted it and joined Roka. But that would have the rest of the ninjas worried, right, distracted?_

_Okay, so he wanted to distract all of the ninjas. From what?_

Naruto scanned the nearby area with his chakra, a useful trick Jiraya had taught him. No one was near, for now, but he couldn't lose vigilance.

_What would he want to distract them from? What else has happened?_

_The explosion, obviously. But again, why a bakery?_

_Maybe . . . maybe the bakery wasn't the real target. _

_They have plants everywhere. What if they've taken over the cleanup crew? In all the commotion, people wouldn't notice, would they? Most of their attention, along with the ninjas' attention would be on the mansion, where the hostages are, right?_

_So, the "clean-up crew" would be free to do whatever they wanted._

_So what the target? The Mizukage building? The Mizukage himself? _

_But if he was going after the Mizukage, why not blow up the bank instead._

The Mizukage's voice also flashed through his head and in that instant, Naruto had it.

"Oh, damn!" He leaped up and began to make his way through the mansion, searching for an entrance to the tunnels so he could get out. He needed to get out!

_Will I make it in time? _

_-----------------------------------------------------------_

Well, should I keep writing? I promise my other fic won't suffer if I write this, so don't think about that. I'll only keep writing if I get good reviews, so if you want, you gotta give me some reviews, okay?


	2. Chapter 1

Okay, I got a few good responses, so I'm going to keep going. During this story, Naruto is off training with Jiraya, so he's 13-14.

Hm. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Die Hard  


Chapter 1

Naruto sprinted through the halls of the mansion, thinking about how best to get out of it.

"Damn! How am I gonna get to the Mist Village? This place is a fortress!"

He thought to how he'd first gotten into the complex.

_Three weeks ago . . . _

"Come on, Ero-sennin! Why can't I go with you?" Naruto pleaded. "I know I can help! I'm getting really strong and it'll be a chance to test out my new jutsu! Please!" Naruto and his teacher were walking down an old dirt road through a field. Pretty uneventful, if you didn't count the mist ninjas on either side keeping tabs on them.

Jiraya sighed heavily. "For the last time, Naruto, no! This is something I need to do _alone_. My contact won't come near me if I have anyone else with me, even someone as oblivious as you!" Normally, Jiraya would have thrown off or beaten up the ninjas, but in this case, he didn't mind. Their destination was in the Mist Village, and the ninjas only provided better protection while they arrived at Naruto's temporary home.

Naruto folded his arms and pouted. "But, that's just no fair. Why does it have to be a month?"

"Quit asking me questions!" Jiraya growled. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I've got a killer headache."

Naruto snorted. "Hangover, you mean," he muttered.

"What was that?" Jiraya asked.

"YOU. HAVE. A. HANGOVER!" Naruto screamed in Jiraya's ear. As the Sannin staggered and clutched his head, Naruto marched on ahead, paying no mind to his teacher's moans.

"_Narutoooo! _You little brat! Argh! I'll kill you!" Jiraya moaned and threatened. _I swear, that kid. It's amazing he hasn't died of obnoxiousness yet. Why am I doing this? _

_Oh, yeah. If I don't, Akatsuki will get Kyuubi and destroy the world or something. So I have to protect the brat until he can protect himself. _

_Besides, most of the time it's not that bad. I only have to deal with him when I show him a new jutsu, then I leave him to learn it and go do research. Heehee. Speaking of "research," I'm going to the hotspring central of the world! Oh, its just too perfect! I remember why I like this contact so much. _

Jiraya was so busy on his internal reflections of nubile beauties and hotspring blushes he didn't pay any attention to Naruto, who, upon reaching a set of large gates, stopped. Annoyed with the pervert, Naruto stepped to the left and stuck his foot out, tripping Jiraya, who went down like a sack of Icha Icha books.

"Hey! What was that for?" Jiraya demanded, pulling himself up.

Naruto scowled. "You should be more observant."

"You're telling me to be more observant? Oh, that's rich," Jiraya replied with a snort.

"Oh yeah? Who just tripped over my foot?" Naruto demanded.

Jiraya folded his arms. "Well, considering how often _you _trip over your own foot, I'm lucky it's only this once."

"Hey! Keep insulting me like that and I'll go back to Konoha!" Naruto shouted, spinning around and facing the way they'd come. _Don't think I won't you old pervert! _

Jiraya ignored him and banged on the door. "Hey! Open up in there!"

Naruto pouted. "Didn't you hear, I'm going back to the Leaf Village!"

"Yeah, right you are. First off, you don't know how to get back to the Leaf Village. You'd get lost and end up in Rock Country somehow and I'd have to come rescue you anyway. Second, if you leave, this guy I'm taking you to won't be able to teach you his powerful jutsus."

_Powerful jutsus? _Naruto bit his lip. _Powerful. Jutsus. _There was no choice after that. "Alright, but these had better be _really _powerful and cool jutsus to get Sasuke back!"

"Yeah, yeah." _I knew that would get him. The kid's a sucker for jutsus. Come on, Chikao! You know we're comin'! Open up! _Just as Jiraya was about to pound on the gates to the estate again, the thick wooden gates swung open. "Finally. Come on, kid!"

"Huh?" Naruto followed Jiraya. "Where are we?"

"We," Jiraya responded. "Are in the estate of the Honorable Lord Chikao. He was a very powerful ninja about forty years ago. We've met several times and he owes me a favor or two. He'll be keeping you safe and training you until I come back." The pair crossed a long, wide bridge to a small island with a pier on it.

"Huh? What are we doing now?" Naruto asked, eying the boat docked at the pier.

Jiraya chuckled. "Chikao owns his own island. Actually, it is a small chain of islands he lives on. Come on, to get to the main island, we have to take this boat," he explained, climbing on.

_This guy owns his own islands? Plural? Just how powerful is he? _Naruto wondered as the boat began to take them across a lake. Naruto couldn't see very far into it, about a hundred yards away was a thick fog. As they passed through the fog, Naruto suddenly felt dizzy and ill, confused and completely disoriented.

"Just wait it out," Jiraya advised. "It's a genjutsu protecting Chikao's home. It's designed to create confusion in anyone operating the boat, so they'll end up going in circles," he explained.

Naruto frowned. "So, what happens to someone who's walking across the lake?"

"That's one of Chikao's greatest accomplishments, actually," Jiraya grinned. "He invented a technique that he applied to portions of the water which rejects all chakra trying to bond with it."

"So, you can't walk across the lake?" Naruto shouted.

Jiraya nodded. "That's right. There's a moat of chakra-repellent water that surrounds the main island. He's also filled that section with all kinds of water monsters, so if you try to swim, you get eaten."

"Woah, this guy must really like his privacy," Naruto said. He peered down at the water, trying to see the man-eating beasts that filled the lake.

"That's right he does, so you better be grateful he's taking you in while I take care of business," Jiraya advised.

Naruto pouted as he leaned over the side of the boat. "I still don't see why I can't come."

"Which is why you can't come," the man replied.

"Huh? What does that mean?" Naruto demanded.

"Oh, look, we're here!" Jiraya pointed to a dock extending into the water. The boat pulled up next to it and the two ninjas disembarked. "Hey, Naruto, gimme your wallet."

"What! No way!" Naruto turned and made to run, but Jiraya grabbed the back of his collar, turned him upside down and shook him until the frog wallet fell out of his pocket. "Ah! Uh! Hey! Knock it off! You've got your own money, you perverted theif!"

Jiraya dumped Naruto back on the ground as he pulled the money out and gave the boat operator a tip, pocketing the rest of the money. "Alright, Naruto. Come on! Time to meet Chikao. Follow me." Jiraya led the way across the small island to another bridge, leading across a small strait. They finished crossing the bridge to another gate.

"Jeez. This guy's house is a frigging fortress," Naruto complained. "How does anybody get in or out?"

Jiraya chuckled. "I know. A lot of people want to kill Lord Chikao, and not just because he's such a powerful ninja. He's also the brother of the current Mizukage."

Naruto's eyes were the size of saucers. "Really? He's related to a Kage. Wow."

Jiraya nodded. "Yep. He's a pretty impressive guy and a lot of people want to kill him, so hence the security."

Naruto's eyes took in the sight of the tree and shrub-lined drive they were walking up. "He just seems kinda paranoid to me."

"Well, pretty much any ninja who lives that long is paranoid," Jiraya said.

"You aren't," Naruto contradicted.

Jiraya preened. "I'm simply too powerful to be paranoid. No one can beat the Legendary Toad Sannin!" He swung his long hair in a circle and did his stompy-dance at the last sentence.

"Uh-huh." Naruto ignored him in favor of the surrounding plants. _I wonder how big his gardens are, _Naruto wondered, hoping he could pass the time with a little gardening. _ I wonder how Kakashi-sensei's plant is. What did he name him? Mr. Ukki? Yeah tha—woah! _"THAT'S A HUGE HOUSE!" Naruto howled—pointing at the mansion before him. "That's bigger than the Hokage monument!"

Jiraya scratched his chin. "You know it very well might be!" He laughed and kept walking. "Come on, kid. Chikao's pretty impatient. He doesn't like to be kept waiting."

The short blonde trailed behind Jiraya, gaping at the massive house. By counting the windows, Naruto deduced there were four stories in the house, and probably an attic and several basement levels as well. It stretched out for 100 feet on either side of the front door, which in itself was probably fifteen feet tall. The entire house was made of the dark brown bricks, and the windows were all trimmed in red. There were balconies stuck all over the house—ahem, mansion that jutted out and in most cases had gargoyles hanging off of them. Vines crept up the front of the house, curling around any protrusions that extended from the main body. Naruto could see tall towers reaching to the sky, pointy roofs and everything. Naruto gulped as they climbed the stairs to the front door. _That is one weird looking house. _

Jiraya reached up and gave a hard pull on a long, tasseled rope. Nothing happened. Naruto leaned forward. "Was something supposed to happen?"

The Sannin frowned. "Yeah, a bell was supposed to ring to let him know we're here."

After several minutes of waiting, the door opened silently. A stoutly built man appeared behind the corner and beckoned them forward. "The Lord is expecting you."

As they walked through the wide foyer, if such a huge room could be called that, Naruto couldn't help but stare. It was nothing like any house or building he'd ever been in before, with arches and paintings everywhere. _This guy has one really whacked sense of taste. _The short man led the two through another doorway and into a large courtyard.

"Well, Jiraya, you finally made it. Just leave the boy here and go. If I can't train him, I'll give him to the staff and put him to work." Lord Chikao was kneeling in the dirt, gently planting some small flowers in the ground. _Gah! He's old! Older than Old Man Hokage. Look at those wrinkles and age spots. _

At the old man's word, Naruto snapped. "Hey! Can't train me! What's that supposed to mean?"

Lord Chikao stood from his gardening and ran over Naruto with a critical eye. "It means if you are too dense or too slow for me to teach. I have no interest in a student who cannot learn."

Jiraya began to back out slowly as Naruto shouted back. "Oh, yeah! I'll learn alright! I'll learn so fast that you'll have a hard time keeping up, Wrinkles!"

_Heh. Good luck, Chikao. I gotta go. _

_-------------------------------------------------_

Well, this chapter is obviously a flashback. We'll find out the whole story up until the point of the prologue in this manner.

Please, review, let me know. I'm still not too sure about how this story is going. Oh, and if you have any suggestions for good stunts or a better title, let me know, too.


	3. Chapter 2

Here's another chapter. Yay!

Another flashback. Most of the story will be flashback, just so you know.

Hm. That's all.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and never will. Or Die Hard.  


Chapter 2

Naruto sprinted across the gardens, eyes wary for any of the intruders. He couldn't afford the time to stop now and any confrontation would have to be dealt with quickly. He had figured out a way to get off the island, but that wouldn't matter if he didn't get to the Hidden Mist Village in time to stop Roka Fyoja. The whole Water country would be ruined if Roka's plan worked. Not that Naruto cared for the Village itself or its ninjas (most of them were psychotic, anyway), but he didn't want a whole country of innocent people to suffer for no good reason.

_**Behind you!** _Naruto listened to Kyuubi and spun around blocking a shower of kunai and shuriken. "Damn!" _I don't have time for this! _

A ninja dropped out from the trees and landed in front of him, almost absently twirling a dagger. "A kid like you shouldn't have such a mouth." He grinned. "We'll have to wash it out."

Naruto sneered. "What are you, my mother? And what kind of threat is that, anyway? Wash my mouth out? A better threat would have been to cut out my tongue or—" Naruto stopped, realizing he'd just said something very stupid.

_**Nice, kit. Absolutely brilliant. Why couldn't my container at least have common sense? **_

_Shut up and help me figure this out. _

_**Pft. Think of this as an opportunity to put all of that new kenjutsu training to the test. **_

Naruto took the fox's advice and grabbed the hilts of two katana. "Back off."

The ninja threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, really, you think I'm just gonna follow your orders? Yeah, right, _kid. _Hey, guys are we gonna listen to what Blondie here says?"

Four more ninjas jumped out from the trees, landing in a circle around Naruto. He gulped slightly, glancing around them. _Well, I'm gonna kick some rogue ninja butt today! _

In one move, Naruto had whipped out a double set of katana and raised them to a fighting position. His feet were planted apart and knees bent slightly, ready for attack or defense.

The ninja eyed them carefully, then the head one burst into laughter. "Ha! What are those?"

_Three weeks ago . . . _

Naruto's eyes widened as he stared in awe at the two beautiful, curved blades. "What are those?"

Chikao snorted. "You telling me you don't know what katana are, Fishcake?"

Naruto was snapped out of his trance by the nickname. "Hey! Don't call me that!"

"Why not? It is what your name means, right?" Chikao responded.

Naruto folded his arms and pouted, ignoring the old man. "Well, why are you showing me the katata?"

"Katana!" Chikao snapped and smacked him over the head with one of the sheaths of the katana. "Jiraya speaks well of you—"

Naruto perked up. "Really? Most of the time, he calls me a brat and—ow!" The old man had smacked him again.

"Don't interrupt," Chikao chided, slowly and expertly sliding the blades back into their sheaths. "As I was saying, Jiraya says you have some talent as a ninja, but you need work specifically on your balance and grace."

Naruto made a face and was about to open his mouth, but the throbbing knot on his head reminded him not to interrupt. Chikao smirked. "So, he asked me to teach you what I could while he was away doing whatever he does."

"Bathhouse peeping," Naruto supplied immediately.

Chikao frowned. "What?"

"Bathhouse peeping," Naruto repeated. "That's what Jiraya does, mostly. He spies on women in the bathhouses." The young blonde nodded sagely and looked Chikao in the eyes. "He just gives me directions, usually a demonstration and then goes off to 'research' while I work my butt off trying to learn the jutsu. I don't mind, though. It just makes me stronger." Naruto grinned as he finished, his face nearly breaking in half with the fake smile.

Chikao sighed. _Great. The kid's starved for affection and acknowledgment. If you've shunted some emotionally stunted moron on me for a month, I'll kill you, Jiraya. _"Whatever," he snapped. "You'll need to work on balance and grace, like I told you. _If, _if you get good enough, I'll teach you about the Mist's style of kenjutsu."

Naruto frowned and scratched the back of his head. "What's kenjutsu?"

_Well, no matter what, the kid's a moron. And who in god's name wears that much orange? _"Kenjutsu is the art of fighting with a bladed weapon and the Mist ninjas are excellent at it. Ever heard of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist?"

"The Seven Swordsman?" Naruto repeated. "That does sound familiar." The boy brought a hand up to his chin, trying to remember where he'd heard that name before.

"It should to any shinobi worth his salt," Chikao answered. "Ever heard of Zabuza Momochi?"

"Zabuza!" Naruto screeched. Chikao staggered under the audio assault. "I know him! We fought him at the bridge in the Land of Waves!"

Chikao smacked the boy upside the head again. "Scream like that again and I'll stuff a sock down your throat for the remainder of your time here, got it, Fishcake?"

Naruto fumed. "I did _not _scream, I yelled! And second, stop calling me Fishcake! My name is Naruto!"

"Which means fishcake, and yes you screamed like a little girl!"

Naruto's face turned red and he looked ready to blow his lid when Chikao mentioned another infamous Swordsman. "How about Kisame Hoshigaki?"

The blood left Naruto's face in a terrifyingly quick amount of time. A blue-faced monster with a dangerous sword that wanted to chop his limbs off came to mind, as well as his partner, a cold Sharingan wielder who'd beaten Sasuke viciously.

Chikao raised an eyebrow. "So, I see his name is familiar. Judging by your reaction, have you met him?"

Naruto nodded wordlessly.

"And? What did you think of my former student?"

The words _former student _snapped Naruto out of his stupor. He gaped like a fish at the old man, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. "FORMER STUDENT?! You, you mean you _trained _Kisame? You were his sensei?!"

"That's right, I was."

Naruto stared at the old man, bright blue meeting hazy gray. He shut his mouth at the odd look in the man's eyes and thought about it for a moment. _I've seen that look before. Whenever someone mentions Sasuke to Kakashi-sensei._ Then he frowned and brought his hand up, scratching his head. "Why does he look like a shark-man-thingie?"

Chikao snorted and smirked. _That's interesting. I expected him to accuse me of being just like Kisame._

"What? Do you know?" Naruto demanded.

"Yes."

"Well, why does he look like that?"

Chikao remained silent. "I'm not telling you that."

Naruto blinked at him. "Why?"

Chikao ignored the question. "Anyway, back onto the important topic. Balance, grace and coordination. You will be doing a series of exercises to work on those things, starting in one half hour. Meet me on the roof at that time. Hoshi!"

A young woman in a simple maid's outfit appeared out of nowhere, startling Naruto. "Gah! Who're you?"

"She is Hoshi," Chikao answered. "She is one of the people who will be taking care of you, right now she will show you to your room and then take you to the roof."

Hoshi bowed and smiled. "Please follow me."

--------------------------------------------------------

Naruto frowned and tugged at the clothes he'd been forced to wear. "Why is it all black?"

Hoshi smiled again. She smiled a lot. "Chikao doesn't like bright colors."

The short blonde made a face as they climbed the stairs. "I think that bright colors would help the old fart see better," he replied.

"My eyesight is exceptional, as is my hearing, Fishcake," Chikao replied. "I don't like bright colors, and I hate orange, so no orange while you are in my house."

Naruto stared at the old man, making faces behind his back. "Yeah, well, you're just a cranky old man who doesn't know how to have fun, Wrinkles."

"This isn't about fun," he replied. "It is about training."

"All work and no play stuffs a stick up your butt!" Naruto chimed, mutilating the saying.

Chikao ignored him. "For the duration of the time here, you will follow all of my orders and every minute of your time will be scheduled."

Naruto's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, but Chikao stomped his cane on the ground hard, and Naruto remembered how hard he could hit with it and shut his mouth, for now. _Oh, I'll get you, old man, just you wait. _He could just see Chikao's smirk.

"Those are the conditions under which I will teach you, Fishcake," Chikao snapped out. "If you don't comply, I'll have you scrub toilets instead, got it?"

Naruto sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I got it . . . ow!"

"I'll have to schedule in a session for proper manners, as well, apparently," Chikao muttered. "Well, that might muddle up my schedule a bit. Hmm."

Chikao was silent for a while and Naruto began to squirm. He was naturally a hyper-active kid and just standing there with this weird guy who wasn't talking. He decided that to avoid another smack to the head, he would take a look around at the estate, he could see quite a bit from where he was standing. The building they were on was quite large, as Naruto had thought, the largest stand-alone building he'd ever seen.

The island itself was also quite large, to the point that he could barely see the water's edge. Most of the island was covered in forests and training grounds, but there were a couple of random buildings which issued smoke and the like. With his sharp eyesight, he could make out people running around, some gardening, some cutting the grass, some just running around for whatever reason.

A sharp rap to the top of Naruto's head jolted him out of his observation. "Hey!"

"Hmph. Listen." Naruto made a face, but remained silent. "Good. You're learning. In the morning, you'll do endurance exercises which I will determine after testing you. After breakfast, you will do more training, but this time, it will be on, as stated, your coordination and balance. After lunch, you will study whatever I tell you in the library and you will work on etiquette and manners with me during afternoon tea. The rest of the afternoon, you will practice some basic water jutsus until supper. In the evening, you will go through some kata to work on precision and again balance. Then, you will go to bed."

Naruto gaped at him. _"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?" But, but every minute of my day is scheduled! That's so unfair! No way am I accepting that! _

Chikao raised an eyebrow. "Those are the terms, Fishcake. If you want to train under me, you must abide by the schedule I set up for you. If not, you'll wash the floors with a toothbrush."

Naruto seethed. "What is so great about being taught by you?"

Chikao turned around and stalked over to the young teenager. "Well, how about a deal, then. We shall fight and I shall show you what is so great about being taught by me," he replied. "If you still hold my abilities in contempt, then you shall do dishes for the remainder of your time here. If you believe that I am worthy of teaching you, then you shall agree to my rules and schedule."

Naruto considered this. _Aw, jeez. Either way, I'm stuck in a totally terrible situation! I'm gonna kill Jiraya! Why didn't he just take me with him? _He sighed heavily. "Isn't there some option where I can just train on my own?"

"No." Chikao answered. "I refuse to allow some fourteen-year-old—"

"I'm fifteen!"

"—ruffian to run loose on my property. You _will _be under my . . . supervision for the entirety of your time here, one way or another." Chikao was silent for a moment, contemplating his young and rebellious charge. "And you know better than to run anywhere, this is an island and you cannot get off without a boat, which will be unavailable to you unless I deem it otherwise."

Naruto stared at the old man. _What a tightass! _

Chikao looked over Naruto for a while longer. Naruto felt like his soul was being probed by the relentless gray eyes. "You have no concept of how generous I am being, Fishcake."

"Generous?!"

"Indeed. Normally, I would not give you the slightest chance for training, I am only doing it because Jiraya asked me as a personal favor. If anyone else had asked, you would already be in a cleaning boy's uniform, mucking out the stables. Do not waste the opportunity that your teacher has won for you, Fishcake," Chikao warned. Though his tone was pleasant, Naruto could hear an underlying ring of steel that made him rethink Wrinkles.

Naruto lowered his head, thinking. _It seems like I don't have a choice here, do I? Training constantly or cleaning? This guy did promise to teach me stuff. He better know some pretty powerful jutsus. Ha! Well, I'll just have to show Ero-Sennin how strong I get when he gets back! _He raised his head and grinned. "Alright! So, when do we start training?"

_Huh, I knew the kid would give in eventually. Jiraya said the kid would give in if jutsus or really almost any type of training was promised. _"Right now."

Chikao ran towards Naruto, twisting the wooden part of his cane and the handle of it in opposite direction, then pulling them apart. A long, gleaming sword _whoosh_ed out of the cane, with the hilt being the handle of the cane. Naruto stared in awe for a second before realizing that this sword was indeed sharp, pointy and headed straight for him.

"Ah!" Naruto jumped backwards, wasting precious seconds being surprised. The sword's edge followed him. Naruto did a series of dodges, ducks and dives to avoid the dangerous blade until he found himself at the very edge of the roof. He then shuffled to the side and barely avoided being run through by Chikao.

But the attacks didn't stop there. The old man, surprisingly spry, continued thrusting and swinging the elegant katana as Naruto could do nothing but barely save his skin. _How am I supposed to counter-attack when he keeps going like this? _

Naruto continued to run, to avoid his attacks, sometimes so closely that he could feel the blade shear the hair off of his arms.

"What's wrong, Fishcake?" Chikao's voice echoed in Naruto's ear and he jumped straight up, only to be followed by the old man.

"_Scared?"_

The word was like a slap in the face. Not only did it insult Naruto and make his face bright red, it snapped him out of his running.

He spun around, whipping out a kunai. The blades came together with a resonating crash. Naruto snarled into the old man's face. "No. I'm done running."

Chikao grinned. "Good. I was getting tired of looking at your back."

They slid away from each other. Naruto did an extremely familiar hand sign and a dozen Narutos appeared on the roof. Six of them flew at Chikao, and were instantly cut down by one swing of his sword. "It'll take more than that to take me out, Fishcake!"

Naruto whipped out a couple of shuriken and whipped them at the old man, while directing a few clones to attack with kunais. Chikao dodged the shuriken and took out another clone with a stab. Behind him, several of the shuriken turned into clones and spun around, attacking him again.

_Hm. That's not half bad. But not good enough. _Chikao did a simple flip and kicked the clones attacking him from the back, dispersing them with a poof of smoke. Hidden inside the clones somehow was an exploding tag. _Interesting. _

Naruto grinned and backflipped away from the explosion. He lifted his head, to see Chikao holding up a hand to the fireball. From his hand was a circular chakra shield that was keeping the fire and force at bay and away from his body. He turned to Naruto. "I wonder, how _did _you get the tags inside the clones?"

Naruto was too busy gaping at the elderly man controlling the fire to answer. Chikao's chakra shield suddenly morphed, extending around the ball of fire and compressing it into a ball of white-hot energy the size of a Rasengan. Naruto blinked as he realized the thing was coming straight for him.

"Gah!" _How did he do that? _Naruto jumped high into the air as two of his clones attacked Chikao again. The old man eliminated them easily as Naruto came screaming from above, a Rasengan swirling in his hand. "Take this!"

Chikao watched as Naruto descended on him, and just as the ball of energy would have hit him, sidestepped and clamped a hand on Naruto's wrist, driving him down into the ground, the Rasengan exploding into the roof.

Naruto cursed in his head as the cool blade rested on his neck. "I must say," Chikao murmured. "You are not as boring as I expected."

"Thanks," he snapped back.

Chikao stood and removed the sword from his neck. "Stand." Naruto obeyed, on the verge of pouting. Chikao smirked down at him and raised the katana. "Do it again."

---------------------------------------------------

Naruto staggered behind Hoshi, tired beyond belief. It was nearly dark now, and he had been fighting for hours. Not always against Chikao, he would often switch out with another ninja that stayed with him. _Stupid old man. Giving himself a break when I don't get one. _

"Here is your room, Naruto," Hoshi said, bowing. "Lord Chikao asks that you be down in the dining room for dinner in twenty minutes and he also requests that you look presentable."

Naruto snorted. "Has he given me clothes to wear, as well?"

Hoshi pointed to the bed, where clothes were laid out for him. Naruto laughed. "Of course. Where are my other clothes?"

"I cannot tell you, sir."

Naruto stared at her in amazement. "Okay. Well, whatever. How will I get back down to the dining room?"

"Pull this rope and someone will come to assist you." Hoshi demonstrated, and a young man appeared instantly by her side.

Naruto nodded and stumbled to the bathroom. He threw himself beneath the spray of the shower and bemoaned his fate. "Jiraya, I am going to kill you!"

-------------------------------------------------------

Chikao raised his eyebrow as Naruto strode into the dining room. The boy had refused to wear black and thus was clad in the only non-black piece of cloth that Chikao had given him.

His underwear.

_Jiraya, when I get my hands on you!_

---------------------------------------------

Somewhere, outside a steaming bathhouse, Jiraya shuddered and glanced over his shoulder. _Why do I feel like I'm in grave danger?_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Clearly, Naruto and Chikao are not getting along! Heh. That's something I can see Naruto doing just to spite somebody. Can't you?

There ya go! Another chapter down.

Review, please! Let me know if it's bad or good or ugly or boring. It's really late so I'm tired and this is a short AN.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3! I know there's not a whole lot of action yet, but it will come soon, I'm just setting up the scene.

Disclaimer: i don't own naruto or die hard.  


Chapter 3

Naruto approached the swath of water that was chakra-repellent and filled with sea monsters. _Seriously, who does that? _

His hands began to fly in a long set of seals. _Let's hope this works . . . _

_Two weeks ago . . . _

Chikao was reading a book when a knock sounded on his study door. "Enter."

He raised an eyebrow as one of his guards stomped in with an unconscious Naruto slung over his shoulder. "What happened here?"

The guard set Naruto down on a couch and grabbed a towel to wrap around the wet boy. "We found him passed out in Willow Harbor," he explained, rubbing the golden locks dry.

Chikao snorted. "I assigned him to work on the beach next to the rock garden, not near Willow Harbor. Tell me what really happened and do not lie to me," he snapped. _Idiot guard._

The guard knelt down. "I am not lying, Lord Chikao. Myself and Hikaru were watching him today as he was working on the jutsus when he suddenly disappered in smoke."

"Smoke?" Chikao questioned. He thought for half a second. "A shadow clone!" _Jiraya did say they were his specialty._

The guard nodded. "Yes, sir. When the clone dissipated, Hikaru and I immediately began to search for the real Naruto, who we found floating about a kilometer away in the Willow Harbor," he finished. "He wasn't breathing, but Hikaru revived him."

Chikao stood and grabbed Naruto's hair, tilting his head up._ This damn fool! How dare he go against my wishes? He will pay for this. "_Get him awake. Now."

The guard stood and ran for a medic. When Chikao got that tone, it was best not to keep him waiting. Less than a minute later, a young medic nin rushed in and waved something under Naruto's nose. The teen moaned and batted the hand away. He tried to snuggle into the pillows, but Chikao tightened the grip on his hair and yanked his head back up.

"Hey!"

Now, he was awake and facing a furious Chikao. "What the _hell _were you doing?"

"Eh?" Naruto blinked up at Chikao. "What? When?"

"_Today, during training,_" Chikao snarled.

_Oh, crap, he's really angry,_ Naruto thought, cowering back into the cushions. _And I was just starting to get the hang of that Dragon Jutsu, too. _"I was training," he answered.

"_Do not lie to me!" _the man hissed.

Naruto's lip twitched in anger. _Okay, getting mad at me is one thing, accusing me of lying? That's something else._

"Why were you in Willow Harbor?" Chikao interrogated. "I told you to work on the west beach in sight of my office." He thrust a finger toward the window, where indeed, a sandy beach could be seen. "But, the Naruto I was watching work on the Water Wall was a _shadow clone!" _He threw Naruto away from him and stalked to the other side of the room, vibrating with fury.

"Now answer me!" Chikao demanded.

Naruto folded his arms and scratched his chin. "Hmm. No."

"Excuse me?"

"I. Said. No," Naruto enunciated each word. "Not until you apologize."

"Apologize." _I don't apologize. _

Naruto nodded sharply. "Yep. You insulted me by saying I lied. So apologize!" Naruto stood, pointing his finger at Chikao. _Take that, old man! _

"Are you implying that you didn't lie?" Chikao asked. _Clearly, he was. And I want to find out what he was doing in that harbor. _

"Of course I didn't lie! I was training there!" Naruto exclaimed, flapping his arms.

"Why weren't you just training where I told you?" Chikao snapped. _Let's see him come up with an answer to that one. _

Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes. "Because I wanted to work on jutsus that you didn't 'assign,'" he answered.

_Work on . . . _"What? Do you mean things you and Jiraya were working on?"

"No. Water jutsus, just as you told me," Naruto answered again. "I got them from the library when I studied there."

Chikao was rapidly losing his patience. "And why didn't you learn the jutsus that I gave you?"

"I did."

"I thought I warned you not to lie to me," Chikao threatened.

Naruto folded his arms and looked sharply to the left. "I learned all of the jutsus you assigned me," he repeated.

_All five? That's impossible. _"When did you learn this? I saw you working on the Water Wall jutsu yesterday."

"That was a clone," Naruto bragged. "I learned the dumb jutsus you gave me two days ago, in that harbor thing I found. The first day when I was working on them, I knew I'd get them fast, so the next day I made a clone and snuck out to learn them on my own. The ones you gave me took me about four days. Since then, I've been working on ones I found in the library." He put his hands behind his head and grinned.

"Show me."

------------------------------------------------

Late that night, Chikao sat at his desk yet again, reviewing the day's events. _The boy managed to learn all five of the jutsus I gave him in four days. The water clones were expected, he's practically an expert in the Leaf's shadow clones, but the others . . . _

_The Water Bullets. The technique certainly wasn't perfect, but his bullets nonetheless managed to shear the bark off the trees around him. If those had hit a human, they would have done significant damage. _

_The Wall of Water. The jutsu itself was adequate, not impressive. The part that surprised me was that the boy mixed in some of his own chakra to make it nearly impenetrable. An interesting twist. _

_The Boiling Wave Attack. This was the second best of the five I assigned. When he split his chakra between the amount of water and the temperature of the water, the attack was mildly impressive. But if he concentrated on the temperature more than the wave itself, the attack nearly turned to steam, quite a feat for one so young. _

_Finally, the Hidden Mist Jutsu. Possibly the least impressive of the five he learned, but it would do against an opponent. He probably didn't like it because he prefers solid, direct attacks. The boy is most inelegant. _

Chikao stood and began to pace around the room, chewing thoughtfully on his pipe. "Hmph, I didn't expect the boy to learn them that quickly. But then, I don't have to worry about what jutsus to teach him. He already took out several scrolls and started learning them."

The old man opened the door and stepped out onto the patio, then began a walk through the gardens. "The Water Prison Jutsu," he mused. "An interesting choice. He said his sensei had been caught in it once, probably by Zabuza."

"Of course," he commented, pulling out an errant weed. "It wasn't too hard to break out of it, and the jutsu itself isn't that hard. But the other jutsu he started to learn . . ."

_The Water Dragon Missile. Why would a genin try to learn such a complicated jutsu? It's not as if he has Sharingan and can memorize all forty-four seals. From what I saw, however, he had learned nearly all of them. He merely replaced 'monkey' with 'dog' in the last five signs. He must have studied all night to get it. He certainly has enough chakra for it, but not the control. _

Chikao sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I might have to change the schedule I have set up for him," he murmured to the moonlight.

The old man continued to ponder the blonde boy as he walked under the moon. He had been living in the mansion for one week, counting the day Jiraya had dropped him off and disappeared. In that time, how often had he actually trained the boy? Well, once every day, during afternoon tea, but that was an attempt to teach him manners, not jutsus. _And those are more often than not disasters. I try to teach him and he ends up yelling at me or dumping tea in the fireplace or snorting sugar out his nose—god knows how he does that. Those give me such a headache. _

Just thinking about his once-prized and peaceful tea time gave Chikao a warning pain in his temple. He reached up and rubbed at it. _You would think that _someone _would teach the boy some form of manners and respect. Perhaps it is because of the demon fox. That would indeed make sense, Kyuubi's presence would remove inhibitions in the boy's mind, resulting in such unhindered and utterly rude behavior. Che. If that's the case, I can't hope to teach him anything. I should have thought of this before. _

Chikao wandered down the cobblestone paths, breathing in the scent of his beloved flowers. He was enjoying the sound of the waves in the distance and the buzzing of the bugs as they flitted about. As he walked, though, he became aware of another sound. It was a voice, very young and very familiar, talking softly to something.

" . . . remind me of Mr. Ukki. I gave him to Kakashi-sensei back when we were in Team 7 together. He was my jounin sensei for the three man genin team. He always seemed so lonely to me, though, so I gave him a plant, Mr. Ukki. Plants always keep me from being too lonely. There are all kinds of hidden gardens and stuff back home in Konoha and when I was sad or scared or lonely, I could go to one of those and do some gardening, you know?"

Chikao stepped into view of the young boy. His voice still had the same almost-raspy quality, but right now, it didn't seem quite as grating. The old man listened as the blonde continued to babble to the plant.

"I guess I like plants because they always listen. You guys don't turn me away or ignore me like everyone else does. You don't call me stupid or obnoxious or annoying. You never tell me to shut up. And, the best part is, I think you're better off when I talk to you. The gardens I talk to are always better off than ones I don't talk to. It's fun to garden, too. Pulling up the weeds is good exercise and sometimes I can identify herbs and stuff. Sometimes, Iruka-sensei will come with me, but only when he doesn't have papers to grade or something better to do. Iruka-sensei's a good guy. He was tough on me when I was in the Academy, but he was also the first person to notice me for me, not for Kyuubi."

Chikao frowned deeply at this.

"Most people in the village, as far back as I remember, didn't see me as Naruto, but as the nine-tailed fox. The old man put a law in place so that no one could hurt me physically or say things about the fox. They all went by the phrase "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." I really hated that saying when I was a kid. Everybody ignored me. I'd stand in the middle of the street and scream as loud as I could, but they'd ignore me until a ninja came and dragged me back to my apartment. Then I'd run to the garden for therapy. I guess that's why I'm here now. I don't like Chikao and I'm lonely here, too."

The boy sighed and looked up at the stars. Chikao stepped back, careful not to let the boy see him.

"I should be going inside now. Who knows what the old man is going to put me through for going against his wishes. His almighty wishes, for nothing in the world must defy the great Lord Chikao!" The blonde boy stood up and brushed his dirty hands off on his pants. Chikao melted into the bushes as Naruto stepped past.

_That was interesting, _Chikao thought as the boy hurried back up to the mansion and sneaked into his room.

--------------------------------------------------------

Naruto sighed as he stood up from his position in the library. He glared at the guard that was standing watch; since Chikao had found out that he'd taken scrolls out to read, he'd been under constant supervision in the studying sessions. Although today, he'd stumbled across an interesting idea that he'd have to try out in practice. But how? _Chikao hasn't mentioned how I'm going to be punished for what I did. _

He shot a glance at the clock and shuddered. _Tea Time. Ugh. The tea is good, but the company sucks!_

The door opened and Chikao stepped in. Naruto frowned. He never does this. "We're changing the schedule around a bit, Fishcake."

Naruto blinked. "Changing? _Changing?" _Naruto rushed forward and grabbed his shoulders. "Don't have a heart attack!"

Chikao shoved Naruto's hands off his shoulders and scowled. "I don't plan on it! Don't touch me again. Now, come." He spun around and stalked out stiffly. Naruto followed, exaggerating Chikao's walk to the amusement of the guard.

Naruto frowned as he was led outside. "What are we doing?"

"Tea time has been an unqualified disaster," Chikao snapped. "So, I will try something new to teach you manners and respect."

"Ooookay," Naruto said as Chikao continued down the path. "What are we doing?"

_Patience, patience. _Chikao took a deep breath and regained his control. "You will see when we get there, Fishcake."

"Naruto." he corrected.

"It's not wise to talk to yourself out loud, Fishcake." Chikao smirked. "People might think you're strange."

Naruto's lip's twitched angrily, very annoyed. "Yeah, well, it's not wise to call dangerous people nicknames that they hate!"

"I'll be sure to avoid that in the future. Thank you for the tip," Chikao replied. "Fishcake."

Naruto snarled, but was careful to keep his temper. _I don't want to lose it and let Kyuubi out again._ Naruto could still see the blood on Jiraya's shirt as he came back to his senses. _"You don't remember, do you?" _

"Do you like gardening, Fishcake?" Chikao asked. _I know he does, but he doesn't know that I know. _

Naruto blinked at the question. "Huh?" He considered the question. _I love gardening, but if I tell him, who knows what he'll do to make me hate it. _"It's okay. I don't really have a preference."

_So, he doesn't trust me, eh? Well, at least the fool has a little bit of sense. _He chuckled. "Well, I do and since I refuse to let you ruin my tea anymore, you will instead work on gardening. Specifically . . ." Chikao reached his destination and pushed open a vine-covered gate. "This garden."

Naruto stepped through the gate behind his temporary mentor and dropped his jaw. The garden—if it could be called that—was a catastrophe! Once upon a time, the garden must have been beautiful and jaw-dropping in a good way. Now, however, plants were overgrown, vines and other climbing greens had crawled all over it and made the place into a viney mess. Stone benches and paths were cracked and broken and the ground floor was covered in dropped leaves. Naruto could barely make out a few struggling flowers and bushes underneath the overgrowth.

"Close your mouth, Fishcake," Chikao advised. "You'll catch flies. Literally, they like to swarm around in here."

Naruto managed to clamp his teeth together after several tries. "Wha . . . ?"

"I've been meaning to get all of this cleaned up," Chikao explained, poking at a random bush with his cane. A squirrel ran out of it. "So, I figured I'll use you as slave labor. Get to work!"

Naruto shared his glances between Chikao and the mess of the 'garden,' not saying a word.

"Well?" Chikao prompted. "Why aren't you getting started? Unless . . . you think you can't do it."

_That _snapped Naruto out of his stare. "Can't do it? Can't do it! Who do you think you're talking to! I'll make this garden the best on the whole island! Believe it!" Naruto threw himself forward, ripping up vines from a mostly-intact bench that someone had placed there. "You just sit down and watch the great Uzumaki Naruto go to work!"

Chikao slowly lowered himself down onto the bench Naruto had cleared and did watch. _So, he has some strategic skill, _he thought, seeing Naruto first determine how large the garden he was repairing was.

"Hey, old man? Where am I going to put all the stuff I rip out? You got like a compost pile or something?" Naruto demanded, shoving his head in front of Chikao's face.

"Muyu! Bring some baskets and such for Naruto to put the weeds in," Chikao ordered.

"Thanks!" Naruto chirped. He disappeared somewhere, running around and exploring the ramshakle garden. "Hey, old man? What do you want to do about the holes in the walls? Hey, old man? Did you know there was a pond and a little river running through here? Hey, old man? Is this supposed to grow this way? Hey, old man? Do you have the original plans for this garden? Hey, old man? Am I allowed to bring plants in from other gardens? Hey, old man? Hey, old man? Hey, old man?"

"Damnit, boy, stop asking me questions! It's time for your afternoon training, anyway," Chikao grumbled. He stood and brushed his pants off. _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea._

"What!" Naruto bounded in front of Chikao. "But I've barely gotten started, how am I supposed to make any progress when I don't have any time?"

Chikao rubbed his temple. "You will have the remainder of the time you spend here to work on it, so don't complain," Chikao snapped. "Now, come. We must work on your jutsu."

"We?" Naruto questioned. "Since when do you work with me?"

"Since you have proven not to be the total idiot I took you for," Chikao replied, striding away.

Naruto stopped and scratched his head. "Wait . . . was I just complimented or insulted?"

Chikao chuckled lightly as he rounded a corner. Naruto came rushing around after him. "Hey! Wait up! Jeez, for an old man, you sure walk fast!"

Naruto caught up with Chikao as they arrived at the beach again. "Work on the Dragon Missile Jutsu, again."

"Ooooh, that reminds me, I want to talk to you about something that I found in the library," Naruto enthused. _If I can make that work, it'll be soooo cool! _

Chikao snorted. "Work on completing the Dragon Missile Jutsu, first, Fishcake, then talk about new ideas."

Naruto grumbled, but began to work through the endless seals, muttering a few out loud to himself as he did them. "Dog . . . monkey . . . tiger . . ."

_So far, so good. _Chikao watched Naruto's hands intently, looking for discrepancies. _He's approaching the last set of seals. The ones he had trouble with yesterday. Good, good, good, good. _

"Water style: Dragon Missile Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, his hands frozen in the last position. Behind him, a huge dragon head burst out of the water and rose above them, for about twenty feet. In seconds, however, the dragon fell apart, drenching both ninjas.

Chikao smacked his head. "Do it again, and this time, make sure that you can _control _it!" _Damn idiot boy. Still, learning the seals is only half the battle. _

Naruto did it again, seals perfect. "Water style: Dragon Missile Jutsu!"

Splash!

"Again."

"Again."

"Again."

After the fifteenth time, Naruto made a sound of exasperation and took off his jacket. "Damn! How long is this going to take?"

"Not much longer today," Chikao assured him. "It's almost time for dinner and you need to get cleaned up."

Naruto blinked. "How'd you know what time it was? Did you look at the sun or something?"

"I have a watch, Fishcake," Chikao responded, amused at the boy's disillusionment. "Do it again."

-------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto ripped up weeds in the garden he'd been assigned, thinking about what he'd learned in studying today. _I wish Chikao would come here, I want to talk to him about it. _

_The book said that the Dragon Missile Technique was made as just that, a missile. It was short-term and only temporary. The jutsu would dissipate quickly no matter what. _

_But, with a few modifications, it could be a more . . . permanent jutsu. Well, not permanent, but long-term. It would give the dragon a full form, as well, instead of just a head and a body that must be connected to the water. The dragon would be able to move freely, to fly maybe, to do all sorts of cool stuff. _

_If I bring it up, though, he'll shut me down, like he has for the past two days when we've been training together. I think I'm ready to try the modifications, though. Heh. He'll be really surprised. _

"Naruto?"

The blonde boy brought his head up at the sound of the guard's voice. "Yeah, what is it?"

"It is time to go to training, sir," the guard replied.

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "What are you calling me 'sir' for? I"m just fifteen."

He stood up and brushed his hands off on his pants. "Man, I need something to wash my hands off after this," he muttered, scraping the dirt under his nails away. Naruto wandered through the gardens and arrived at the beach where he was to train with Chikao. The old man was already there, standing by the edge of the beach. Grinning, Naruto began to whip through the handsigns for the jutsu. He'd memorized them all.

"Trying to sneak up on me, Fishcake?" Chikao demanded, spinning around just as Naruto finished the last few.

"Water Style: Dragon Missile Jutsu!" Yet again, a giant dragon's head erupted from the water's surface. Naruto timed how long it took before he had to fully concentrate to keep the dragon formed and moving. After ten seconds, it fell apart. _Okay, I can keep it up without a problem for five seconds, so next time I'll have to do it in that time. _

Chikao sighed heavily. Naruto rolled his eyes. "I know, I know, do it again." For what felt like the thousandth time, Naruto's hands formed the signs for the complex jutsu. Forty-four seals later, the water formed a dragon. Chikao watched as the dragon did a loop in the sky and sped toward the ground.

_One. _

Naruto raised his hands for the first few seals.

_Two. _

Six of the fifteen were done.

_Three. _

Two more left.

_Four. _

Done.

_Five. _

"Water style: Flying Dragon Jutsu!"

Chikao whipped his head around, eyes wide. "_What?" _

The dragon suddenly completely disconnected from the water, and sprouted wings. The mobile water dragon did a backflip in the air. Naruto vaguely heard someone shouting something, but every ounce of his attention was focused on the dragon.

_Damn. Damn! It's slipping, I can feel it. _Indeed, high in the air, the dragon began to writhe and deform. _No, no damn! Come on! _But all of his inner cheering was in vain, as the dragon fell apart once again and showered the ninjas with water.

Chikao stormed over to the boy. "What was that?"

Naruto leaned forward and rested his hands on his knees. "I've tried to tell you about it again and again, but you didn't listen."

"The Flying Dragon jutsu," Chikao repeated. "I'd quite forgotten that jutsu was in my library. What do you intend to do with the jutsu once you've mastered it?"

"Well," Naruto began almost sheepishly. "I was thinking that if I could focus it enough, I could get it to the point where the dragon would be a ride, instead of running, I'd fly!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing his arms up and grinning.

_Ride the dragon? It's certainly an interesting idea. _Outward, he rolled his eyes and snorted derisively. "Do it again."

Naruto sighed heavily. He did the seals _again. _"Water Style: Dragon Missile Jutsu!"

---------------------------------------------------------

_In the present . . . _

"Water Style: Flying Dragon Jutsu!"

The fully-formed dragon exploded out of the lake. Naruto grinned and leaped on, using his chakra to attach his legs to the body of the dragon as it rose up high.

"Alright! Alright!" Naruto cheered._ Finally, I'm getting somewhere! "_On to the Mist Village, dragon! We've got a country to save!"

There ya go! I know the chapters are a little bit slow in coming out, but thank you to all who are reading, reviewing, alerting, etc.


	5. Chapter 4

Hey! Sorry it took me so long.

I know this hasn't seemed very Die Hard-ish yet, but this is the last training chapter., then we'll meet the bad guys and the action will start. Sorry for making ya'll wait so long. My stories take a while to get started, sorry. If I go back, I'll probably edit some of this stuff.

I already said the disclaimer.  


Chapter 4

Naruto closed his eyes, summoning up every ounce of chakra he had to keep the dragon flying. It wasn't easy and he'd just barely mastered it. _Good thing the village isn't far away, _Naruto thought. _I need to inform the Mizukage immediately. _

A sigh of relief escaped Naruto when he saw the walls of the Mist Village. _Finally. _"At least I know I'll be able to get in to see him, since he knows me."

_One week ago . . . _

Naruto stared up at the man in the flowing Kage robes. "So, you're the Mizukage," he commented. _He looks like Old Man Hokage. Except he's taller, way taller than him. And he doesn't have the goatee or the moles. His face isn't as tanned either. Huh. I guess he really doesn't look like Sarutobi._

"Yes, I am," the man replied, looking Naruto over. "And you must be . . . Fishcake."

"WHAAAAAT? You, too?" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the leader of the Blood Mist Village. "Lord Wrinkles has gotten to you, hasn't he?!?!"

The Mizukage raised an eyebrow. _Lord Wrinkles. Nice._ "You could say that. He is my brother, after all."

_Oh, yeah, I think I remember Jiraya saying something like that. _"So, why are you here?"

"To visit my brother," he answered, taking off the hat and placing it on the table. "And to meet the Fishcake he's been training."

Naruto folded his arms and pouted, refusing to look at the powerful man across from him. "I am _not _a piece of food."

The Mizukage chuckled as he observed the boy. _Well, he certainly has the temper Chikao described. Now, if he has the talent. Learning the Flying Dragon Jutsu in a matter of days. He definitely learns quickly. And my brother says that he's mastered five of the six Water Dances. Quite fascinating, this little Fishcake. I shall have to test him on my own. He is probably nearly ready for katana training. _

"Well, my cranky big brother tells me that you enjoy gardening," he began.

Naruto risked a glance at the man. "Yeah, so."

"I understand that you are working on restoring one of the gardens that has fallen into repair," the Mizukage said. "If you don't mind, I would like to see it. Our mother raised us to enjoy natural plants and I want to see what you have done."

Naruto sighed. "I'd like to, but if we do something without the old man's permission, he'll get angry and have me scrub the windows again or something," he said. Then, he grinned. "Sounds like fun. Come on."

_A prankster. I like this kid, but no wonder he annoys Chikao. _The Mizukage followed him down the paths through the gardens, as always admiring the flora. He sighed. _I wish I had time to garden. Tch. Paperwork. I should put it through a mulcher and properly take care of the Villages gardens with it. But that wouldn't work. I don't think paper is good fertilizer. Shame. It would have been therapeutic to get rid of all of those trade contracts. _

"Hey, Mishikage guy!"

_Mishikage? _"What did you call me?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "What should I call you?"

"How about Hyoka?" he asked.

"Is that your name?" Naruto asked.

Hyoka nodded. "Yes, why?"

"Why ask me to call you by your first name?" Naruto asked. "That's kinda weird."

"Well, it's better than 'Mishikage,'" he answered. "Is this the garden you have been working on?"

He stepped up to a rusty-looking pair of gates. Naruto nodded. "Yep, that's it. Go on in." He pushed the gate open. Hyoka stepped through dutifully, being careful not to get his white robes dirty. He didn't have to worry, though, as Naruto had already repaired the stone paths in the garden and was carefully keeping them weed-free. A smile spread across Hyoka's face as he took note of the clean pond and cheerfully running brook. All of the previous weeds and overgrowth had been cleared and Naruto had marked off sections with string where he intended to plant certain flowers or bushes. Those bushes that were being kept had been trimmed to tastefulness.

For the next hour or so, Hyoka and Naruto talked about what flowers were to go where and what was to be left bare. Eventually, the conversation turned to Naruto's training.

"So, has my brother taught you anything pertaining to kenjutsu yet?" Hyoka asked.

"Kenjutsu?" Naruto asked. "Oh, you mean, with the sword things?"

_Maybe he's not quite ready yet. _"Yes, with katana," Hyoka corrected. "Have you done anything?"

"When I first came here, he showed me the ka-ta-na," Naruto said, carefully pronouncing each syllable. "Then he attacked me with them and I haven't seen them since."

"Indeed." Hyoka carefully considered the boy before him. "I'd like to see what you've accomplished in terms of jutsus, specifically the Dances you've been learning."

Naruto frowned. "The Dances?"

"The Water Dances," Hyoka clarified. "I understand you've learned five of them so far."

"Oh! Yeah, the old man's been teaching me them for some reason," Naruto nodded as they walked down to the water's edge. "Do you know why he wants me to learn them?"

Hyoka smiled. "Yes, I do. It's part of the Mist theory on taijutsu and kenjutsu specifically. Wind may be the most mobile element, but Water is the most versatile. It has three states: ice, water, steam, which no other element can claim. It also flows unlike other elements. Water can be the biggest ocean, or the smallest teardrop. Virtually every liquid is water-based and pure water is the only liquid that expands when it freezes. It makes up over half of the world and two-thirds of the human body," he finished proudly.

Naruto blinked. "Okay. What does that mean?"

_Well, he's not the sharpest kunai in the pouch, that's for sure. _Hyoka sighed. "Most taijutsu and kenjutsu style require specific, rigid kata, movements that are predictable and patterned. The Mist style, however, places on emphasis on fluidity and unpredictability, much like water itself. Ah, here we are," he smiled, reveling in the salty breeze. "Now, show me your Water Dances."

"Hold on a minute," Naruto asked. "I'm still not sure how it works."

Hyoka smiled. "Show me your Dances first and I'll show you."

Naruto puffed out his cheeks, but did as Hyoka asked. _I like him a heck of a lot better than the old man. _Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the Dances. They weren't really jutsus, but different styles of manipulating water. It was like learning a dance, but having the freedom to do different moves in that dance.

The blonde did a quick series of hand seals. "Nature Manipulation: Water Style!" His chakra flowed out into the water that he was standing in. The water glowed light blue and churned in a circle around him. Naruto changed his stance and held his hands out.

Naruto moved his hands, drawing the water back in around him. "Dance of the Threadfins!"

The water transformed into thousands of little scales that spun around him quickly, like a fish version of Neji's Rotation. This dance was a purely defensive move, providing a solid barrier between Naruto and the outside world. He let the water fall back and shifted his hands again.

_He apparently doesn't like that one. _Hyoka thought. _But it was strong and it would do the job, although I get the feeling he'd charge and punch his attacker instead of using the Dance. Let's see, the next one is . . . _

Naruto cringed as he said, "Dance of the Pufferfish!"

The chakra-infused water swirled up around him in a circle. It contracted tightly, until it was a small sphere around him. Suddenly, the water shot out in a larger, thinner circle with spikes protruding from it. This was a combination defense/offense move, protecting Naruto while attacking anyone within range. The water flowed out of formation, back into the harbor.

Hyoka chuckled to himself. _Indeed, the name is rather embarrassing to yell out in the middle of a big battle. Again, one he doesn't particularly enjoy. He would use this, however, more than the Threadfins. I can see the boy luring someone into a trap like that. _

Naruto moved his hands in a complicated pattern, shouting out, "Dance of the Stingray!"

Instead of rising up this time, the large amounts of water began to slither forward, flowing up and over the beach. Suddenly, little whips of water came up, lashing at anything and everything, like the tail of a stingray. Within ten seconds, the water receded back into the lake.

Hyoka smiled, watching Naruto. _Again, if he increases his strategic prowess, he could very well use this cleverly. Continuing . . . _

This time, Naruto closed his eyes in concentration. He lowered his body until his hands were also in the water.

"Dance of the Whale!"

Huge amounts of water rose up out of the lake, flowing into the vague shape of a whale. The giant mammal dove down at the shore, attacking an invisible enemy. It opened its mouth and pretended to swallow the person, swinging back up and then diving again in a smooth motion. After a few more swooping attacks, the giant whale dove back into the lake, creating a splash around Naruto.

_I thought he'd like this one, _Hyoka mused. _From what Chikao's complained to me about, it's more his style: direct, overblown and rather clumsy. No wonder Jiraya brought him here to train. _

Naruto shifted his feet on the water so he was standing again, a much more aggressive stance. He held his hands up like claws and shouted, "Dance of the Shark!"

The water began to swirl around him, then in front of him, forming into a huge mouth with layers upon layers of sharp water teeth. Naruto thrust one of his hands forward and the fanged menace flew forward, snapping and crashing its jaws together. With his other hand, he summoned another shark jaw.

_Impressive,_ Hyoka acknowledged. _He can control the jaw with one hand and summon up another with his unused hand. He probably worked on this a bit more than the others. Now, there's only one dance left. _

After a few more attacks, Naruto drew the jaws back and let them dissolve back into the water. Now, he stopped, closing his eyes and slowly positioning his hands. _Okay, this is my worst one, _he thought. _I have to do my best. _He cracked his knuckles and let them unwind from their claw-like status. He held them spread out, loose and relaxed. "Dance of the Octopus."

As soon as he spoke, the water rose up around him, forming into a skin-tight shell around his entire body, save his head. The parts around his fingers began to extend themselves slowly, inch by inch. After the would-be tentacles got about a foot long, they began to lose cohesion, movements becoming erratic and the in some cases falling apart entirely.

_Ah, he has trouble with the flow of the tentacles. Not surprising, not at all. _

_Damn! Come on! I can fix this, just foc—just come on! Augh!_

The water fell back into the lake with a splash. Naruto glared at the offending liquid and considered cursing it out, but if the water was like the man who owned it, that would only make things worse. The teen slammed his fist into the water and stormed out of it, throwing himself down on the beach and wringing out his jacket.

"I _hate _that last dance!" Naruto shouted. "Why can't I get it?"

"The answer has to do with what I was talking about earlier," Hyoka answered.

Naruto spun to see him. "Really? Well, what is it? What's the trick?"

"I told you," he answered. "It is in the nature of water. Naruto you are not a very elegant fighter from what I've seen and heard. Your movements are all about force and directness, no subtlety to your attacks. Unfortunately, that is not the nature of water, or the Dance of the Octopus."

The blonde boy rubbed his forehead. "Okay . . . what?"

_This is going to take a while. Maybe it would be better if I showed him. _"Here. I'll give you a demonstration. First, create a shadow clone and fight it."

Naruto frowned. "Why?"

"I need to see how you fight," Hyoka answered. "So I can show you the differences. Just fight a clone already."

"Whatever," Naruto shrugged. Another clone poofed into existence next to him. Naruto grinned and attacked it. The two fought viciously, Naruto taking out all of his frustration over the jutsu on the clone. Finally, he landed a finishing blow and sat down, grinning with triumph and endorphins.

"Good, now I'll show you." A quick hand sign and another Hyoka flowed up out of the water, bowing and smiling. He went over and stood next to the other Hyoka. The two beamed at each other for a minute before turning to Naruto.

"Alright, we are going to fight twice. The first time, we'll fight in your style," Hyoka said. "Observe carefully."

The Hyokas stepped away from each other and then fell into something resembling a fighting stance. The one on the left—Naruto wasn't sure if it was the original or not—suddenly shouted a battle cry and charged forward, kunai spinning in his hand. He did a huge, sweeping attack, which the other Hyoka parried easily. He brought his foot up and had it blocked.

As Naruto watched the two fighting, he began to realize something. _They're wasting a lot of energy. I mean a lot. Their strikes are big and wide, but not fast. I can see what's going to happen seconds before it does, because their body language gives so much away. _

_Is this really how I fight? _

Hyoka eventually defeated his water clone. Brushing his hands off, he turned to Naruto, who was deep in thought. "I take it you noticed some flaws in your technique."

Naruto nodded and told him everything he'd seen.

"Very good," Hyoka commented, smiling. Another water clone bubbled up out of the water. "Now, we are going to fight in my style. Again, watch it very, very carefully and tell me what you see."

The identical Mizukages stepped apart and slid into matching poses: arms up but relaxed, legs slightly apart, and weight balanced evenly on both feet. Hyoka 1, as Naruto dubbed him, slid one foot back in a half circle so that it was behind the other and launched himself forward. Hyoka 2 tensed and bent his knees slightly, readying for the attack. #1 ran forward coming in from the left, but Naruto blinked and suddenly he was attacking from the right.

_Woah, he's fast. _

#1's attack was dodged, but instead of switching directions, he let his momentum carry himself forward and onto his hands, swinging a leg up to connect with #2's stomach. To Naruto's amazement, when his stomach was hit, Hyoka 2 actually threw himself forward over the leg and slammed his left hand on the side of 1's face, legs going up so that he was doing a one-armed handstand. The other hand came down, holding a spinning kunai. 1 grabbed 2's forearm and threw him over his head. In response, 2 twisted his hands and grabbed 1's arms, spinning so that 1 had to let go or get his arms pulled out of their sockets. The two released each other and flipped away, landing perfectly.

_This, this is amazing! _Naruto thought, watching them, enraptured.

Seeing Naruto's expression, Hyoka dispersed his clone. "Have you seen enough to see the difference?"

Naruto nodded eagerly. "Oh, yeah! That was awesome! You—and then, he—and you an—an I mean—"

"Use your words," Hyoka advised, chuckling. "Use your words."

Naruto composed himself. "It was so cool! If one attack failed, you just kept going in like, the same way, instead of trying another form. And then, you actually took advantage of the other guy, though I couldn't tell which was which and—"

"So, basically," Hyoka interrupted. "I didn't waste my movements and I turned my opponents attacks against him, right?"

Naruto nodded eagerly. "Yeah, yeah, teach me how! Come on! Come on!"

"Wait, do you see the difference between your fighting and my fighting?" Hyoka asked.

The blonde let his eyes drift down, thinking hard. "I usually see each attack separately. You connect them as one, giant attack that moves from blow to blow easily?"

Hyoka smiled down at him._ As Jiraya said, the boy does eventually catch on if it is explained to him correctly. "_Very good."

1------------------------------------------------------1

"So, did Fishcake eventually get it?" Chikao asked, sipping tea.

Hyoka nodded, dumping several spoonfuls of sugar into his tea. "Yes, he finally managed to control the Dance of the Octopus after an afternoon of training."

The two moved to the window facing the grounds, where Naruto could be seen faithfully practicing his kata before bed.

"I had to show him how the Mist ninjas fight with a demonstration," Hyoka explained. "But after seeing it, he more or less understood."

"How much?" Chikao grunted.

Hyoka sighed and took a gulp of his super-sweet tea. "Well, he realized that each of my attacks and defenses were connected, whereas his were normally separate, even if he was fighting with a plan. I don't think he understands the association with the Water element, though. Still, he is ready for kenjutsu."

Chikao grunted. "Still, he is an idiot."

"True," Hyoka admitted. "He is rather dense sometimes, but he has a good heart."

"His heart," Chikao muttered. "A heart is only a liability to a ninja. It is too easy to put it into someone and have that person destroy it."

He put his tea down with a clang and turned away. Hyoka followed the movements of his older brother. "Chikao—"

"Mark my words," Chikao snapped. "That _fool _is going to be hurt, badly, one day." He turned to leave.

"Didn't Jiraya tell you?" Hyoka asked.

"Tell me what?" Chikao asked wearily.

"That he's already been hurt. You know the rumors that Orochimaru got his hands on an Uchiha?"

Chikao swiveled slowly, calculating his brother. "It is more than a rumor by now, Orochimaru is training Uchiha Sasuke. Everyone knows."

Hyoka nodded. "Indeed. The last survivor of the massacre is a missing nin. But, did you know who was on Uchiha's team?"

"Let me guess," Chikao snapped. "Fishcake."

The Mizukage nodded sagely. "Yes, Naruto and Sasuke were on the same team as genins. When Uchiha first left Konoha, Naruto went after him, to stop him and bring him back. From what I understand, they fought and Sasuke hit Naruto with a Chidori, punching straight through his right shoulder and lung."

Chikao was silent.

"The fox's power somehow healed kept the boy alive and still, he tried to drag Sasuke back to the Leaf Village. The Uchiha had to leave him there, unconscious." Hyoka sipped his tea quietly. "Do you know why he is training so hard now?"

"No, but you're going to tell me, right?"

"He's training so that he can beat Sasuke and take him away from Orochimaru, back to Konoha."

Chikao watched out the window as Naruto finished up the evening stretches and headed inside. "He's still a fool."

----------------------------

Well, what did you think? Please review, my reviews have been going down for some reason. I'm sorry for disappointing you all. :(

I know the Mizukage is very nice, but no one knows anything about him, so I just made him up as I saw fit.

I also figure that is how the Mist Village would see the concept of fighting, very closely connected with water.

I'm tired that's all.


	6. Chapter 5

As promised, the actual action starts in this chapter. Yaaay! No more training chappies! I'm sure those of you who are still reading are quite happy about that!

Enjoy it!  


Chapter 5

The giant water dragon literally crash-landed just outside the gates of the Village Hidden in the Mist. The guards standing there stared in amazement as a dirty, bloody, short blonde staggered toward them. Instinctively, they put up their guard.

"Tell the Mizukage," he gasped. "That Fishcake is here to see him. He'll know."

Naruto slumped against the wall and rested while waiting for someone to get back. A shadow covered him and he looked up to see a large Mist ninja standing above him. Without a word, the other man reached down and grabbed Naruto, then sprinted across the rooftops toward the Mizukage building. Before Naruto could figure out what the heck was going on or mount a protest, he was being unceremoniously dumped in front of Hyoka.

"Naruto," Hyoka snapped. "Tell me _everything _that has happened in my brothers house. Start from the beginning. Start now."

_Yesterday . . ._

"AAAHH-CHOOO!"

Naruto wiped his nose with his sleeve after the gigantic sneeze and wished yet again that the windows in the attic opened. Cleaning the attic was his latest punishment for pulling yet another prank.

"The old man's got no sense of humor," Naruto muttered. "I don't think he even has any laugh lines."

He finished folding the rugs and dumped them in a corner, which caused another uprising of the dust. Naruto hacked and coughed, staggering his way over to the window. Desperate for air, he finally forced the window open and stuck his head out, breathing the free air gratefully.

"I hate this attic!"

Naruto took the time to clamber out of the window and sit on the roof, taking a nice break from cleaning the musty-never used attic. Never mind that he'd found some really, really cool stuff in there, including a sleeveless cloak that he'd discovered was impenetrable and a pair of short katana that were perfect for his currently shorter frame. Chikao had reluctantly begun training him in kenjutsu and while Naruto was no expert, he was pretty darned good with the blades.

Naruto heard voices below him. One of them belonged to a servant named Udon, but he didn't have a constant runny nose like the boy in Konoha. He'd overheard a discussion, well argument, between Chikao and the servant a few nights ago. Apparently, Udon had been Chikao's butler for years, but something had happened and he'd been relegated to a separate island a few days before Naruto came. The boy did Jiraya's impenetrable cloaking jutsu and crept forward to hear what they were saying.

Udon's slightly whiny voice reached Naruto's ears. "Yes, I gave you everything I know! I checked the security footage for the past hour in every room. In the house right now, there are ten guards of Chuunin level, three of Jounin level, fifteen civilian servants and, of course, Chikao himself. He has no guests at the moment."

Naruto pouted. _Hey, what about me? I'm a guest! Definitely not a guard or a servant. _

"Now, where's my money?"

_What is he talking about? Money?_

The other man spoke. "Look, Odo—"

"Udon!"

"Your name isn't important," the other man hissed. Naruto heard the sound of a blade being drawn.

"What are you doing?"

"Lord Roka doesn't like loose ends," he explained. There were the distinct noises of metal slicing through flesh, blood splattering on the ground, and a body falling.

Naruto gulped and stayed completely still, hoping that the man wouldn't notice him. The ninja was too wrapped up in whatever he was doing to pay attention to cloaked Naruto. The ninja pressed something near his ear, activating a headset. "Ten Chuunin, three Jounin, fifteen civilians and the target. Confirmed."

Someone on the other side of the headset answered, but Naruto couldn't hear him. The ninja frowned and tilted his head up, allowing Naruto a good view of his headband, and the long, deep scratch across it. _He's a missing nin. So what does he want here? And who is 'Lord Roka?'_

The missing nin nodded and said, "Yes, sir. We'll move now."

He twisted something to a different frequency and said one word. "Now."

As soon as that word was said, over three dozen ninja leaped out from bushes and god knows where else. Naruto stared in amazement as they silently flew towards the house. They entered the mansion through windows on all levels and to Naruto's horror, one jumped up onto the roof and sped in his direction. Naruto scrambled back into the attic and froze. His heart pounded as the approaching ninja jumped through the window and landed lightly. He reached up and pressed a button in his headset.

"Red Lightning here. I'm in."

_What the hell is going on? _

--------------------------------------------------

Chikao's eyes snapped up from his tea. _Someone is in my house. _

He stood to move forward and encountered an intruder, a missing-nin from rock. _I haven't had any quarrels with Rock. Why are they after me? _Chikao drew his sword and flew forward, beheading the ninja in one move, before he'd realized the fight had begun.

"Hello, Chikao."

_Roka. _

Chikao spun around and lifted his sword again. The man before him smirked, a smirk Chikao he remembered far too well. _The bastard hasn't changed a bit, has he now. He always was terribly tall, and that obscenely red hair doesn't yet have gray in it. So he's behind this. _

The old man prepared himself to launch forward and attack, but found his feet wouldn't move properly. He suddenly went down on one knee and sucked in a breath as realization hit him. "So, your favorite method of attack hasn't altered either, Roka. You still like your poison."

The man known as Roka walked up to Chikao and knelt in front of him. "No, sensei. It hasn't."

"I assume you put the poison in my tea," he wheezed. "What will it do, kill me?"

Roka chuckled. "No, I would lose all of my leverage with your baby brother if you died now. Don't presume to know my plan here." The man reached out and grabbed a hold of Chikao's sword-cane, sliding the blade smoothly back into place. He straightened and stepped over Chikao. "Don't worry, someone will be along to help you soon, since you can't exactly walk at the moment."

Chikao hissed at the younger man, "Tell me, Roka, how did yo get the poison in my tea?"

Roka laughed again. "Why do you even bother asking? You should know the answer."

Chikao's eyes widened. Dread began to grow in his stomach. "Who, Roka, who have you turned to your side?"

"Well, there was that one butler you kicked out," Roka began. "Noodle, or something, yes, it was very inconvenient when you sent him away. He was barely useful after that. He did manage to inform me of who was in your house at the moment with those wonderful cameras you installed."

"There are others on the island," Chikao snapped.

"Ah, but you have such a wonderful security system, don't you?" Roka grinned. "I just received word that all forty of my ninjas have entered the building, so a certain little rat of mine will be sending us into lockdown any minute."

_Damn it. _As soon as the words left Roka's mouth, Chikao could hear the sounds of the mansion shutting down. All doors and windows to the outside slammed shut and locked, both with multiple manual locks and seals. A generator sent a combination pulse of chakra and electricity through the outer bricks and created a shield surrounding the building.

------------------------------------------------

Naruto's eyes widened as every window in the attic closed firmly, all kinds of seals appearing in glowing letters on the surfaces. A second later, the window began to glow bright blue. The invading ninja chuckled to himself. "Are you surprised, little boy?"

_Damn it! He knows I'm here._

"Look, why don't you come out and let me take you downstairs with the other hostages? Hm? I won't hurt you unless you fight me. I promise." He drew two kunais out of his weapons pouch and held them in front of him. "I'll find you eventually."

----------------------------------------------------------

Chikao shook his head. "I must say, that was very well planned, Roka. You are now trapped inside this house with me, what do you plan to do from here?"

"You'll see. Just, remember, don't assume you know my true motives," Roka reminded him. "Now, we're all going to meet in your wonderfully stale drawing room, how does that sound?"

A ninja came up behind Chikao and slung the old man over his shoulder, following Roka through the passages of the house until they reached the drawing room. Already, over twenty people were gathered there. Chikao counted thirteen of his guards and all of the servants.

"Well, that's everyone, correct?" Roka chirped.

"According to the information that the butler gave us, yes," one ninja replied. "Ten Chuunin, three Jounin, fifteen servants and the old man. The house is ours."

Chikao's mind was churning._ They didn't count Fishcake. "_How did you get that information, Roka?"

"Oh, those cameras you installed, I told you," Roka answered. "The butler broke in and got all of the information to us. Wonderful, wasn't he?"

_Of course, Naruto was in the attic. There are no cameras up there, so they didn't know about him. But if he did see them coming, he couldn't have escaped them and if he didn't he's trapped in the house with the rest of us. _

_Fantastic. Our lives are in the hands of the moron._

-------------------------------------------------------

"Come on, don't be stupid," the ninja taunted. "I can see your footprints in the dust, so quit hiding and just come with me."

Naruto gulped. Judging by the chakra levels, this guy was at least a high Chuunin, probably a Jounin. _But those guys didn't know I was here, in the house. If I can take this dude out, I can move pretty freely, right? _

"Look, if you don't show yourself in the next ten seconds, I'll just take you out and drag your body downstairs," the ninja threatened.

_No way. I'm not losing to this chump. I'm going to take him out and kick the rest of these jerks out of the house. _Naruto dropped the jutsu. The ninja stared. "Hell. You're just a kid."

Naruto threw himself forward and slammed his left fist into the missing-nin's jaw. "Ugh!" Flowing with his momentum, Naruto twisted and planted his hands on the ground, bringing his feet up to the guard's neck. His left foot went in front and his right foot went behind his neck. With a sharp twist of his hips, Naruto sent the ninja flying, crashing into the wall. In an instant, Naruto was on him, pinning him to the ground. But he needn't have worried, because the man was already unconscious.

Naruto snorted. "And you call yourself a ninja," he muttered. The blonde whipped out some chakra-enforced rope and tied the ninja up, being sure he couldn't escape like Sasuke did so long ago. "No 'Rope Escape Tricks' for you, Red Lightning." He stripped the unconscious man of all of his weapons.

At a handsign, ten clones poofed into existence. One did a Henge of the missing ninja and headed down to impersonate him and another stood guard over the tied up ninja. The rest spread out into the house to gather information. The real Naruto scrambled around the attic, grabbing all the weapons he'd stumbled across. He scooped up the short katana he'd found and strapped them to his thighs so they wouldn't swing around.

Finally, he grabbed the cloak he'd found and wrapped it around his frame. It went down to his ankles, but he didn't mind, it only offered more of his body protection. Naruto did up the clasps along the front and pronounced himself ready to go.

----------------------------------------------------

Clone number 7 slithered along the ceiling, invisible and undetectable through Jiraya's spying jutsu. _Never thought I'd actually be grateful he's such a perv. Eh? What's that? Voices?_

The clone followed the sound of the voices to just outside the drawing room, but couldn't get in because of the guards stationed at every entrance. _If I can hear what's going on and get the info back to the boss, he can formulate a plan. _The clone channeled a minimal amount of chakra to his ears to listen.

". . . wonderful, wasn't he?"

7 heard Chikao snort. "Really? I always thought the fool wasn't worth his pay."

"Then why'd you hire him?" the clone heard someone else ask. "That doesn't sound like you, old man. You never tolerated incompetence."

"He was an old childhood friend," Chikao responded. "Tell me, Roka, what do you want here?"

There was a long silence during which 7 strained to hear what the man named Roka was doing. Finally, he spoke. "Do you remember my brother? His name was Mineo?"

"How could I forget?" Chikao answered. "You talked about him incessantly."

7 frowned. _He sounds like he knows this Roka guy. What does that mean? _He heard Roka move closer to Chikao. "You see, your brother, the Mizukage, has my brother in prison. For no reason at all. I want my darling little brother back with me. We'll be contacting the great Water Shadow soon to make our demands."

_So, all of these people are hostages. _

"Hyoka would not put someone in prison without due cause," Chikao snapped. "What are you really after?"

Roka laughed. "Why do you assume I have an ulterior motive?"

"Because I know you, Roka," he answered. "If you wanted Mineo out, you would find other ways of getting him out. You never wanted to involve innocents in your battles. I don't believe you've changed that much."

7 heard the sounds of someone, presumably Roka, pacing back and forth. "Well, you could always be wrong, couldn't you?"

There were several seconds of silence. "All operatives have reported in, sir," said someone else. 7 identified him as the head ninja who'd murdered Udon.

"How many missing-nins did you recruit, Roka?" Chikao demanded.

Roka laughed. "Are you asking how many ninjas are on my payroll or how many are in the house?"

"For now, in the house," Chikao replied.

"That would be thirty nine, not counting myself, not like it matters to you," Roka replied. "Now, enough questions, I'm bored with you. Until one of your underlings not trapped in here notices the house is in lockdown and contacts little Hyoka, I believe I will go investigate your library. I always loved your library, sensei."

7 stared down at Roka as he passed beneath him, on his way to the huge library. _Sensei? Chikao trained this guy, too? He has a real knack for picking psychos as his students._

_ ----------------------------------------------------------_

That's all there is for this chapter! I had to end it there because otherwise it would be too long. I'm not a fan of superlong chapters, unless I miss posting for weeks or want to celebrate something. _  
_


	7. Chapter 6

Brand new chapter! I think it's a little bit shorter than my other ones. Oh, well. More is going on than Naruto or Chikao knows.   


Chapter 6

Naruto stopped his tale for a moment, when someone brought him a glass of water, which he drank down greedily. Hyoka sat nervously at his desk, barely containing his impatience. Naruto finished and held out his hand for another glass.

"Well?" Hyoka snapped. "What happened next?"

Naruto sighed heavily and rubbed his top lip. "While clone 7 followed Roka to the library, I came up with a plan to take down the rest of the guards . . ."

_Yesterday . . . _

The original Naruto paced back and forth, trying to formulate some sort of plan for what to do. "I need to get rid of some of these guards," he muttered. "But I can't blow my cover. I need to make it look like an accident somehow."

He continued to pace and try to come up with a plan. "Okay, I know I'll lure away some of the more powerful ninjas. If they get suspicious with a bunch of 'accidents,' they'll be harder to get. So, I know who to take out first. Good. Just, how?"

"I just need to knock them out and tie them up, like I did with Red Lightning," he muttered, casting a glance at the ninja who was tied up and still out of it. Naruto had used a special seal he'd learned with Jiraya to bind his chakra so he couldn't use any jutsus.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and frowned. "Plans never were my strong suit, but I don't think just creating a thousand clones will work too well," he snarled. "If I do, they'll just threaten the hostages. I need to take them out a little bit at the time. If I knock them out, I can replace them. But I can't get the hostages out with this thing up. That's what they wanted, isn't it?"

"They wanted to keep people in there, but why did they want this so much? What did they want? Money?" Naruto shook his head. "No, they could just steal a bunch of stuff. They're after something else, but what?"

Naruto shook his head. "Never mind! I need to start taking out these ninjas!"

The blond imagined the house stretched out in his mind. He'd already planned and executed numerous pranks in this mansion, so he already knew the weaknesses of the rooms and the layout. He just needed to re-arrange his plans for knocking people out instead of ticking them off.

"Uh, the dining room would work well," he muttered. "I could drop the chandelier on them or something, right? I know, its been done before, but it's a classic. It'll definitely work."

Naruto poofed a clone into existence. Clone number 11 set off through the hallways and tunnels of the mansion, arriving at the dining room in record time. He covered the cameras set up and got to work. 11 resisted the urge to hum and snicker to himself as he set the trap. Grinning, number 11 disappeared.

1--------------------------------------------------1

"Hey, Red Lightning, are you okay?"

Clone number 1, aka 'Red Lightning,' jumped and turned to his superior, whose name was Green Wind. 'Red Lightning' had just received word of Naruto's plan to take out the guards. "Yes, I'm fine. I just got a sudden transmission from Lord Roka. He says we need to check out the Dining room. Someone perhaps escaped detection," 'Red Lightning' answered.

Green Wind nodded. "Who is to go?"

'Red Lightning' pointed to three of the more powerful invaders. They nodded once, sharply and turned to leave, marching away swiftly. The four men moved quickly through the halls of the mansion toward the dining room. "How does Lord Roka know?"

"He believes the servant man was lying to protect Chikao," 'Red Lightning' improvised. "But he said if there was anyone, the resistance would be minimal. We're here."

Green Wind brought out his kunai. "Okay, we'll go in slow, and check the room out."

The other two men, Blue Water and Orange Lightning, stepped forward and slowly pushed the double doors open. The four stepped through the entryway into the dining room and slowly looked around. Behind them, the doors slammed and sealed shut. The only method of escape now was to cross the dining room and get out through the kitchen.

"Well, it looks like there is resistance," Blue Water murmured. "Keep your guard up."

_Just don't try to dispel any genjutsus. _'Red Lightning' prayed, but kept silent with the rest of them. They went around the long table in the middle, two on each side and met up at the foot of it, still moving to the kitchen doors.

"So far, so good," Orange Lightning commented. "It would probably be pretty lame resistance, anyway."

"Quiet!" Green Wind snapped. "We need to—"

At that moment, from either side of the dining room, Naruto's clones, henged as servants, jumped out of the curtains and let loose a rain of kunai and shuriken. Unable to dodge all of them, the four ninjas ran forward, trying to get to the doors. Above them, right in their path, a huge silver chandelier began to plummet to the floor. Green Wind smirked. _We can outrun this trap easily. _

Unknown to the invading ninjas, however, clone 11 had set up a small, barely detectable genjutsu in the room. All it did was make it look like the floor was completely flat, when in reality, there were two steps leading up to the kitchen door. Three ninjas fell flat on their faces, surprised and almost immediately knocked out by the falling chandelier they'd thought to outrun.

'Red Lightning' snickered, as did all of the 'servants' that had thrown the weapons. "Lame resistance, my foot!"

With all of them working together, in moments the three ninjas were tied up and chakra-sealed. Green Wind, Blue Water and Orange Lightning were all dragged into the kitchen and unceremoniously stuffed into cabinets. Coming back to the dining room, all but three of the servant clones were dispersed.

After cleaning up the mess, 'Red Lightning,' 'Blue Water,' 'Green Wind,' and 'Orange Lightning' strode from the dining room, weaving their way back to the drawing room and reporting no problems.

1------------------------------------------1

Naruto grinned as news of the success came to him, up in the attic. "Okay, four down and replaced," he cheered. "Just . . . thirty two more to go . . . Great."

He smacked his head against the wall.

1-------------------------------------------1

While the original Naruto abused himself, clone seven continued to watch Roka wander around the library. So far, the man had pulled down a book about the history of the Water country, flipping through it to a certain page. Roka had read the page and several others, smirking and throwing the book down when finished. Naruto had tried to see what he was reading, but the blasted man kept moving too much.

_This is so boring. _Number 7 thought after a half hour of simply watching and watching and watching. _Why isn't he doing anything? _

Finally, Roka pressed his communicator button. "White Fire," he said.

Whoever White Fire was responded instantly with, "Yes, sir."

"How are things over on your end?" Roka wondered, running his fingers over the large scrolls on a shelf. "Have our hosts put up any resistance?"

"No, sir," White Fire answered. "There were rumors of problems in the dining hall, but the squad came back unharmed."

Clone 7 tensed. Roka wasn't an idiot, he couldn't be if he was going to hold Chikao hostage. If he learned of their deception, their plan would be totally screwed. He'd know there was someone in the house, someone they didn't have hostage. He would heighten his security and send out search parties, making everything that much harder.

"Ah, good," Roka murmured. "It is almost time to alert the authorities of our occupation. Be ready."

"Yes, sir. All is going according to plan," White Fire answered. "Over and out."

Roka dropped the communicator on the table and stepped over to the cabinet next to the windows. He ripped off the door and pulled out several rolled-up pieces of parchment. He turned around and spread them out on the desk. Naruto, upside-down on the ceiling, silently scuttled over to see what he was looking at.

_A map of the Mist Village? What's with that? _

1---------------------------------------------------1

In the drawing room, Chikao pursed his lips tightly as he watched Roka leave. Roka had indicated that someone in his house was a traitor. Someone who had had access to his tea was able to poison it so that he couldn't use his chakra to fight back. So, who did that leave?

There was Cook. He personally prepared all of the food. _Would he? _Chikao thought, sidling a glance to the gentle, graying man sitting a few feet away. _For the right price, he would. Every man has got his price. That is simply a fact of life. But not everyone's price is money. Cook certainly doesn't care for it. No, to tempt Cook, one would need to know him well. If Cook poisoned me, he would not be the only one. It would be too much trouble to bribe Cook when someone else could simply work his or her way up without having to be bought. _

_Cook is out, due to impracticality. _Chikao cast his eyes around the rest of his people. _Who serves me my tea? Hoshi. _

His eyes landed on the dark-haired beauty. _I would suspect her, but Hoshi is too simple to concoct a plan like that. She wouldn't have the finesse or the timing necessary to do such a thing without me suspecting. Nor is she a clever enough actress to fool me for long. I chose her for that reason, she is too slow to be a traitor. _

Chikao slid his eyes over his contingent of guards. _They are the most likely offenders. Ninjas are too often bribed by power, or money. As ninjas, we are taught to destroy our emotions, become tools. But without loyalty to country, those tools can easily be turned aside by the slightest hint of a temptation. Even Fishcake gave in when I promised him power. He is more like his rogue teammate than he probably wants to admit. _

_Both are being trained under a Sannin. Both want great power. Both are doing it for the sake of another. Sasuke wants to kill his brother and avenge his family. Naruto wants to kill Orochimaru and get Sasuke back. How alike those fools are. _

Chikao returned his attention to the important matter: discerning the traitor in the room. _But, which of my guards? I pay them more than enough, don't I. I pay them more than anyone could reasonably offer, plus a bonus if they hear rumors of a conspiracy. So, Roka would have had to bribe any guards with an obscene amount of money to get them to even consider turning from him. When did the fool get that much money? _

The door opened and the four ninjas that had left earlier stepped in. Chikao snapped to attention. _What? Their chakra signatures are all different from before. And yet, they're all the same. _

_Fishcake. _

_That damn fool did something to them, didn't he? Somehow he managed to get them out of the way and tie them up. He may be a moron, but even he knows better than to just leave them running around. And he had the presence of mind to replace them, so they wouldn't be missed. _

_I barely detected his chakra signature, too. He must have done something to mask it, so it wasn't quite as obvious that they were clones. The boy really does have a knack for them, if he can create clones and have them do Henges. He probably has some as spies elsewhere, as well. _

_If he has any sense, he has one of them watching Roka. I wonder what he wants in my library. He's learned nearly all of the jutsus there. He's probably more powerful than me by now. _

_When he finds Naruto, if Roka's spy has told him any useful information, he'll know exactly what Naruto wants most. _

_Jutsus. _

_Jiraya said it himself. Naruto could never resist the power of jutsus. Roka will find him, dangle some nice, powerful moves under his nose, and lead him by it. Naruto is not our savior. With the power that boy has in him, if Roka gets him on his side, he will be our downfall. _

_Fantastic. I should have sent him out to do the laundry outside. Then he'd be on the other side, locked away from the lure of Roka's power. But as it is, all I can do is hope he doesn't fall into Roka's hands before I can figure out a plan. _

Chikao shifted on the floor, trying to get his old bones a little bit more comfortable. _I know Roka doesn't want Mineo out. He abandoned his brother years ago when he became a missing-nin. If he wanted Mineo, he would just break him out. None of the prison guards could stand up to Roka, it would take someone of Hyoka's level to fight against him. _

_And such an underhanded move . . ._

_Roka was like Naruto when he was a child. He was very direct, preferred to use blunt force to take things. He was never one for big, scheming plans. If he wanted to get through a wall, he'd punch it, or get Kisame to hack through it with that monstrosity of his. _

_Kisame always listened to Roka. Whatever Roka said to do, Kisame did it. And Roka was the only one who could stop Kisame when he wanted to chop someone's limbs off. Even I couldn't stop the blue boy. _

_As I understand, now, Kisame is partnered with Uchiha Itachi. The same one that Sasuke wants to kill. Funny how things work out like that, isn't it? One of my former students is the traveling companion of Itachi. Itachi killed his family and drove his brother to seek power through Orochimaru. That made my current student Naruto also lust for power, which drove him to me. And he came here at the exact time my other former student will lead him away with the promise of jutsus. It's just one big circle. _

_Odd. All of my students end up betraying me for power. _Chikao was snapped out of his thoughts when a little piece of paper was pressed into his hands.

Carefully unfolding it and checking to make sure the guards were looking elsewhere, Chikao looked down. He recognized Hoshi's handwriting clearly. She had scrawled on the paper. _"We're making a plan to fight back. Don't worry. We'll save you."_

Chikao crumpled the paper in his hands. _No, dammit. You'll all only get yourselves killed. _

_1-----------------------------------------------1_

In the library, Roka picked up another little black device. This one was also a communicator, but it was long-distance. "Roka to Black Mist, come in Black Mist."

A voice crackled over the communicator. "Black Mist here, Roka. Over."

"Status report. Over."

"All units report ready, Roka. Waiting for your go. Over."

"Excellent, Black Mist. The signal should be coming in the next ten minutes. Over and out."

Without waiting for a confirmation, Roka turned the communicator off and switched frequencies. "Cakeman, come in Cakeman. This is Roka."

"Cakeman here. All systems go. Waiting on you."

"Wonderful. The government will receive word in the next ten minutes. After that, we'll be waiting on them. Stay alert, Cakeman. Over and out."

"Copy that."

Roka turned off the communicator and set it back on the table, tracing a pattern on the map he'd laid out. "Everything is going to plan."

------------------------------

Dun-dun-dun! What will happen next? Review and find out!


	8. Chapter 7

I know what you're all thinking: why hasn't she updated in so long and what is this story about again?

I am sooooo sorry. I have no excuses.

Just to recap it for you: Naruto is training with a grumpy old man named Chikao when the mansion is taken over by terrorists. Naruto isn't discovered and stages his own coups to take as many of them out as he can.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Die Hard.

Chapter 7

The guards exchanged looks. "Cakeman? Who the hell is that?"

"Let him finish, we'll find out!" Hyoka growled. The guards shrank back in fear.

Naruto took a deep breath and continued to talk.

_Yesterday . . . _

Up in the attic, the real Naruto paced back and forth. He wished one of his clones would poof away so he could get an update.

But now, to a new plan to get rid of some guards.

He bent over the house blueprints and stared hard, trying to figure out what would take out the most guards at one time. He still needed to be incognito, so it couldn't be an explosion or anything like that. He pulled out some smoke bombs. Maybe if he modified them, then sealed the room off so the poison wouldn't spread?

Naruto eyed the plans again, searching for the best room. He grinned. "There."

He created a few more clones to run off to the room, while one poofed away, to inform all the other Narutos of the plan.

Naruto himself watched them go away and bent over the plans again. If this worked right, there would be ten more guards down and out. Maybe soon, he could start actually fighting. But not yet.

* * *

'Green Wind' held a hand up to his headset, pretending to get information. He nodded, then spoke something back. With a nod to the other guards, he strode out into the hall, passing White Fire on the way in.

"Hey, guys, come with me," he said to a group of mercenaries lounging in the hall. "We need to check out the sparring hall. There's a report of a disturbance."

The ninjas muttered, but came in the end. 'Green Wind' led them quickly through the giant house. He hoped that none of them would ask how he knew his way through the confusing maze of corridors. That would be difficult to explain.

Finally, he arrived in the sparring hall. It was a room designed specifically for ninjas to fight in but not get hurt. The hall was really brilliant. Sensors would read the chakra output and nature and somehow determine, at super speed, what attack was going to be used. It would then suppress the actual chakra while simulating the attack. Any jutsus used would have no effect on the human body. Naruto had no clue how it worked, but he knew that the ninjas wouldn't be able to use Chakra Lung Expansion. His plan wouldn't really work if the ninjas could use a jutsu to hold their breath indefinitely.

'Green Wind' went into stealth mode, the others following his lead. He crept up to the double doors of the sparring hall, crouching and pressing against the wall. He held up his hand, signaling them to wait.

When there was no noise from inside the sparring hall, 'Green Wind' raised two fingers. He waited for half a second, then motioned them forward with a quick flick of the wrist.

The ninjas burst into the room with a bang, spreading out and searching for these 'disturbances' until they realized that they were in an empty room. The light came down from the ceiling, in neutral mode and the floor and walls were all white. There were no windows, or doors other than the one they'd come in through. The only thing to disturb the pure white were the beige tags placed strategically around the room.

"Huh?" One asked, looking around. "What's going on?"

Not a second after those words were uttered, the door they'd kicked down slammed shut behind them. A giant seal flared red on it, signaling that they were now sealed in the sparring room.

"What the hell?"

"It's a trap!"

Another mercenary reached up to his radio, starting to connect. 'Green Wind' noticed and leapt forward, cracking his jaw across the other man's face.

The ten ninjas he'd brought into the trap roared in anger and one leaped forward, delivering a solid roundhouse kick to 'Green Wind.'

_Poof._

Their surprise was just long enough for the final part of the plan to go into action. All around the room, explosive tags started to fizzle and burn. Before they could register what was going on, the tags exploded, sending out waves of noxious gas. The ninjas fell to their knees.

A few tried to compress chakra into their lungs and save their breath until they could find a way out of the trap, but the room suppressed their chakra. One by one the ninjas fell.

The last one got the bright idea to call for back up. His hand crept up to the radio in his ear. With a tremendous effort, he pressed the button, activating it. He coughed hard into it before rasping, "White . . . Fire . . . trap . . ."

* * *

Naruto grinned brightly as ten of his clones took the place of the ten lying in the room. In a couple of minutes, the ventilation system would clear it out. When everything was safe, Naruto would send in clones to bind and seal the men. But the ninjas would be down and out for quite a while, long enough for Naruto to make some plans.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chikao rubbed his forehead. _The plan will fail. They're a bunch of cooks and servants against trained assassins. Even with the guards fighting, they'll be too worried about protecting the civilians to really fight. _

_Damn fools. _

Before he could mentally berate the people he employed—_idiots __every one__, they're all fired—_one of the guards held a hand up to his headset. The man, whom Chikao recognized as one of Naruto's clones, nodded, then left the room. Just as he walked out, another one walked in. His gaze swept the crowd, then settled on Hoshi. A devious smirk played across his face.

He strode over to her and grabbed the girl's arm. She whimpered as White Fire dragged her to her feet. "You're coming with me," he growled.

Chikao's hands clenched at the thought of what would happen to the poor girl at the hands of that bastard. He knew that some of the others in the room wanted to rush to her defense, but that would be utmost folly. Then, people would end up dead.

Hoshi whimpered again and started to cry as the missing-nin pulled her out of the room.

_I __swear,__ that man will pay. _

There was no time for further thoughts of revenge as Roka chose that moment to reenter.

He smiled genially at all of them. "Well, I've come to a decision," he announced.

The displaced lord of the house glared at Roka, wondering what in the gods' names he was planning. He kept his tongue, though, knowing the Roka liked to brag and would soon tell them what would happen next.

"It's time to contact little brother," he chuckled. Roka strode over to the large mirror hanging in the room.

_So someone told him about that mirror as well, did they? When I find the traitor, I'll kill him._

With a quick jutsu, the silver surface of the mirror began to ripple and swirl. As it cleared, the figure of the Mizukage could be seen clearly. Hyoka was bent over his desk, scribbling something on his parchment. He held up one hand. "Hold on a sec, Chikao, I'll be right—"

"Ignoring me would not be wise right now," Roka advised. Hyoka froze. "Lord Mizukage."

Hyoka put his pen down and turned to face the mirror. He remained silent as he scanned the people in the room, his eyes careful and calculating. Finally, they came back to rest on Roka. He remained silent.

"Do you remember my brother, Mineo?" Roka asked.

Chikao scowled. _This is not about his brother. If __Hyoka__ has any sense at all, he'll figure that out. _

"Of course I do," Hyoka replied. "It was my apprehension of him that got me promoted to Mizukage."

_Brilliant, little brother, _Chikao thought. _Just genius.__ If Roka were a real terrorist, he'd only get more unpredictable and angry at that. _

"I want him released," Roka said. "If you don't—"

"No."

_How the hell did my idiot brother become __Mizukage_

Roka raised an eyebrow, apparently angry. "Excuse me?"

"I said no," Hyoka said. He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands. "Here is my offer: release them and turn yourself in or die."

Silence reigned in the room as Roka seemed to lose his composure a little, then regain it. "Perhaps this will change your mind."

He quickly cut the connection and the mirror turned back to a regular mirror. As soon as Hyoka's image was gone, Roka chuckled. "How ever does your silly little brother know to play into my hands so perfectly?"

He did another jutsu and the mirror showed a view of the center of the village. They could all see the Mizukage building, the bank on one side, the bakery next to it, and the library on the other side. 'Red Lightning' narrowed his eyes, wondering what the maniac was planning. Here he'd been preparing to defend against Roka killing a hostage. Why would he show them all a view of the village?

Roka spoke into his headset. "Cakeman, come in."

There was a small voice on the other side, saying something indistinguishable. Roka smirked. "Now, Cakeman. Out."

The entire room stared at him in confusion until their attention was drawn back to the mirror/viewscreen by a tremendous explosion. Before their eyes, the bakery's windows and roof was blown out. The building went up in flames a few seconds later. On the screen, people were staring and running. 'Red Lightning' watched in horror as someone staggered out of the building, bleeding and burning. The figure crumpled less than ten feet from the bakery's ruins.

Roka chuckled. "Step One has been accomplished."

"You bastard!" Cook shouted. The huge man pushed himself to his feet and charged at Roka, but another ninja—not one of Naruto's clones—intercepted him. The ninja crushed Cook's jaw with one punch, then kneed him in the stomach.

Chikao watched, lips tightening as Cook fell to his knees under the blows of the ninja. Blood spurted from his mouth.

On the mirror, the bakery collapsed in a pile of burning rubble.

* * *

Hyoka rubbed his forehead as he was pushed out of the Mizukage building by his numerous guards. Apparently, if explosives could be set in the bakery, the building wasn't safe.

With a growl, he shoved the impatient, concerned hands off of him. "Stop it! Go help put the fire out!"

The ninjas rushed off to do his bidding, but the ANBU stayed tight around him. Hyoka rolled his eyes, grabbed the transmitting mirror and a few other things and left at the insistence of the ANBU.

_What is wrong with all of your students, Chikao? _

* * *

Black Mist smirked as he watched the bakery go up in flames and the people around it go absolutely mad with panic, greif and confusion. Soon, his forces would be ordered to move in.

By the Mizukage himself, no less.

* * *

The missing nin known as White Fire frowned as his radio crackled to life. With a growl, the man pulled away from the warm body trapped between him and the wall. He recognized from the frequency that it was Blue Earth.

_I ordered no one to call me now. _He snarled and hit the listen button, ready to ream out whoever was on the other end. White Fire's frown deepened when he heard the sound of coughing on the other end.

_What is going on? _

"White . . . Fire . . . trap . . ."

With that, the voice on the other end stopped. Realization hit him like a ton of proverbial bricks. _There was someone else in the house. _

"Well? What's wrong now?"

White Fire turned back to Hoshi, who was quite annoyed that he had stopped kissing her. "It seems we have a problem, love."

* * *

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * *

So, that's it for chapter 7. A bit shorter than my other ones, but a lot happens. And the true spy is revealed! Oh, my!

Again, so sorry for not updating in months. The rest will be coming sooner. I finally remembered where I was going with this. I forgot to write it down and I've remedied that error. So, 'Don't Die Hard, Naruto' will get finished. Someday.

Oh, any better suggestions for the title are always welcome. :)


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"_Hoshi _was the spy?" 

Naruto nodded, taking another gulp of water. 

"Yeah, but I didn't find that out until later . . ."

_Yesterday . . ._

The once magnificent bakery was burning fantastically. All of the flour had made a fantastic second explosion when the flames from the first reached it. It was a little-known fact that flour and grain were very unstable. All the stored energy that made it good food also gave it volatile tendencies.

A crowd was gathered around the burning building. Most of the employees had come out of the neighboring establishments to watch the conflagration. 

The ninja known as Black Mist smirked as the guards from the next door bank stared in amazement. He knew that, inside, the alarms were blaring loudly. They would have to completely shut down all the systems and sirens to get any kind of peace and quiet. 

His crews should be arriving any second; then they could start the work. The plan was moving along perfectly.

* * *

White Fire stormed down the hall, intent on finding Roka. They must have missed someone when they gathered everyone up. Who was it?

Obviously, it was someone with ninja skill. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to make a dent in his ranks. White Fire was running through the possibilities as he sought his leader. It could be one of the guards, but something about that just didn't make any sense. White Fire had learned a long time ago to trust his instincts. Right now, they were screaming at him that there was a wildcard in this mansion.

A wildcard that was screwing up his plans. 

White Fire threw the door open and stepped into the room where all the little hostages were grouped. All of the guards were there, at least, by the count they had received from Uduu, or whatever his name was. 

The man wouldn't have lied to them—there was nothing in it for him. He must have been unaware of the last person in the house. 

He felt weak killer intent directed at him. His gaze swept the hostages and settled on the cook, who was sporting a bruised and broken jaw. The man had probably barely made Chuunin before being wounded and unable to continue, or something like that. White Fire snickered. He was _so _intimidated. 

Stalking over to Chikao, the invader crouched down and put his mouth close to the old man's ear. Chikao wasn't the type of man to let anything slip by him in his house. It had taken years to get moles that lasted long enough to be of use. 

"Listen up, old man," he murmured. "I am going to ask you some questions."

Chikao picked at a hangnail. "Alright then."

* * *

Naruto crept out of the attic. It was time that he figured out what was going on in this house for himself. The clones couldn't send him information, something he needed desperately. With the number of mercenaries he'd taken out and replaced with clones, if he could just free Wrinkles and the other guards, they might have a shot at beating back these guys. 

The question after that was how to get out of the house. Surely Chikao had some way to take the mansion out of panic mode. Naruto just had to find it. 

Naruto jumped up and used his chakra to stick to the ceiling of the mansion. Few people ever looked up, especially in patrols, so the chances of him being detected were slim. He had dropped the trench coat—it was too heavy to be wearing all the time like this and it would just get in his way if he was going to be all stealthy. 

He froze and covered up his chakra signature as some ninjas approached. They passed under him. 

"White Fire is interrogating the old guy about a rumor of some spy in the place," one of them muttered.

"Are you saying that someone escaped our sweep?" another snapped. "No way."

"Look, apparently, White Fire got a message from one of the guys who went to investigate the sparring room," the first replied. "You know, with Green Wind."

"How many went with him?" 

The first snorted and shook his head. "They say about ten."

"What? And they've come back?"

"Not yet, they're making their way back now, but no one's tried to get them on the radio."

The second ninja scratched his chin in contemplation. "Who called White Fire?"

"Pretty sure it was Blue Earth," the first responded. "He called just a few minutes ago and muttered something about a trap before the line went dead."

"Well, for his sake I hope it's true," the other laughed. 

"Why's that?" He pulled out a couple of kunai and started to sharpen them against each other. 

"Because White Fire was having some 'alone time' with the little housekeeper when he was interrupted." Both men guffawed. 

The second one leaned against the wall. "Oh yeah, she sure was a hot little thing, huh? I wonder if he'd be willing to share."

"Doubt it," the first responded, checking the kunai's sharpness against his thumb. "He didn't even get to finish. She's still in a guest bedroom on the second floor."

Naruto carefully scrambled along the ceiling again, heading toward the stairs. Naruto wasn't sure what the mercenary had meant by 'alone time,' but he wasn't sure he liked it. Besides, if he could get to Hoshi, he could help her.

_Don't worry, Hoshi. I'm coming._

* * *

"There is someone in this house."

Chikao snorted. "There are many people in this house. Are you referring to someone in particular?"

"One of your people."

"Again, many possibilities."

"Someone my men didn't capture."

Chikao sighed as he managed to get the hangnail off his finger. "You said you had questions. So far they've only been statements. Are you confused as to the nature of a question?"

White Fire hissed. "Who is this spy?"

Chikao didn't reply, but slowly shifted positions. 

"I asked you a question."

"I heard. Could I possibly stand up? My old legs are cramping."

"Not until you answer my question. Who is this spy and what does he want?"

"Which question do you want me to answer?" 

"Both!" 

Chikao settled down again, but said nothing. 

White Fire snarled and grabbed Chikao's neck. "You _are _going to answer my questions."

"Rather hard when you're strangling me," Chikao shot back. The invader's hand was dangerously close to actually choking him.

White Fire threw the old man back down to the floor and felt the killer intent in the room spike. "Oh, are you all angry about my treatment of your _beloved _master?" he snapped. 

They all shrank back as he circled around them. _Weak, weak cowardly fools. _White Fire laughed. "You think he loves you that much?"

White Fire whipped a kunai out and grabbed a random servant. Not one of the guards, they would be used to torture. Wouldn't scream loud enough. 

"Let's see how loyal he is to you!" 

"White Fire!" 

He froze, the blade millimeters from the terrified servant's face. "What do you want?" he gritted out. Why did fools keep interrupting his pleasure? First Hoshi, now this.

"Green Wind's party is coming back now. Blue Earth is with them."

"What!"

* * *

Green Wind strode through the halls, a band of henged clones behind him. Someone had to send the message to the Boss that they couldn't keep up the disguises forever. Their chakra was running low. He put on his best confident face as two of the other ninjas came up to him.

"Hey," one of them asked, playing with a kunai. "Blue Earth here? White Fire wants you."

They all froze. They'd all done henges, but managed to forget to find out their code names. Five of them stepped forward at once, then stopped. 

The two 'real' mercenaries stared at the group. "Something _wrong, _boys?" 

"Ah, no, of course not," Green Wind replied. He grabbed a random clone. "Here's Blue Wind."

"Really?" 

Green Wind nodded decisively. "That's right."

"Well, White Fire wants to see you," the non-kunai-twirling one said. 

'Blue Earth' gulped slightly. "Where is he?"

"He's in the room with the hostages," was the reply. 

The clone posing as Blue Earth moved past the others and down the hall. Green Wind called over his shoulder, "Alright, back to your posts, everyone!"

"Not so fast," the one with the kunai said. "White Fire'll probably want to talk to all of you."

"What about?" one of the clones behind him asked. 

The other two exchanged looks. "Something about an . . . ambush. Or something."

Dread wrapped itself around each of the clones standing there. Green Wind fumbled for a reply. "Really? Ambush? What ambush? No, no! There was no ambush. Nope. None at all. Ha! Ambush . . . funny one."

They all shifted uncomfortably. Could someone have found out about the plan?

* * *

Naruto glanced down the hallway, then sent clones as lookouts to either end of it. Naruto pried open the door, but Hoshi wasn't in there. He made a face; there were so many guest bedrooms on the second floor. He'd already checked most of the floor, and was on the last corridor. Either she'd managed to escape or the guards had their information wrong. 

Whichever it was, he had to find her. 

The third to last door in the hallway creaked slightly as it opened. Naruto jumped inside and closed it quietly. Hopefully his clones had the sense to hide when they heard it. Or knock out any pursuers and take their places. That would be the smart thing to do.

"Naruto?"

The blond spun around, kunai up, and Hoshi jumped back, startled. She threw her hands up and squealed. 

Naruto jumped forward and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shhh!"

They both fell silent, waiting for the sound of the enemy running at them. After several tense minutes, Naruto relaxed and let his hand fall away. "Okay, that was a close one. Are you okay?"

Hoshi stared at him for a moment, then nodded dumbly. "Uh, yes. I-I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to rescue you," he answered.

"How did you escape the guards?" she wondered, trying to discreetly tug her skirt back down.

Naruto glanced around. "Oh, I was in the attic. One guy, Red Lightning, tried to take me down, but I took him out and created a clone in his place."

"And what have you been doing since then?" Hoshi wondered. She had to alert someone that the blond knucklehead was on the loose. She wasn't a ninja, just a spy. There was no way she could take him out in hand-to-hand. Maybe, if she cracked something over his head—no, that would be no good. His skull was thick enough to withstand anything but a fatal blow. 

"Oh, I've been setting traps that take out a bunch of guards, then replacing them with clones," Naruto explained. "I've also got a ton of clones running around as spies. I think one of them is spying on the head guy—Roku or something."

Hoshi raised an eyebrow. "Really? How can you create that many clones?" _I need to keep him here until 'White Fire' gets back. How though? Start up a conversation about ramen? _

Naruto nodded excitedly. "Oh, yeah, once I even created two thousand clones! That's how I beat Gaara."

Hoshi smiled. _Well, he _is _a teenage boy. There is one thing I could do. _"You know, that's really brave."

"Heh. You think?" Naruto beamed and scratched the back of his head. 

She took a step closer to him. "You know, being brave is really . . . sexy."

Naruto blinked at her. "Uh, okay. Thanks." _I think. She's awfully close._ He took a step back and ran into the bed in the room. 

Hoshi took another step, definitely invading Naruto's personal space. "Have you ever been kissed before, Naruto?"

"Well, I accidentally kissed this kid in the Academy once," Naruto mused. "Then all the girls beat me up."

"Mm. Have you ever kissed a woman?" _Get here NOW!_

"Eh? No. I don't run into women all that much in training, but Ero-Sennin is always going off to drink sake with them," Naruto replied. He tried to shift away, but Hoshi was trapping him between her body and the bed. 

Hoshi sighed, lifting her breasts and wetting her lips. "Did you ever wonder why he wants to spend so much time in their company?"

"Ah . . . stimulating conversation?"

She gave him a tiny push that sent him tumbling back onto the bed. Before the genin could move, she straddled his hips. "Nope."

* * *

Blue Earth opened the door to the Hostage Room, as all of the Narutos had labeled it. White Fire was standing in the middle of the room, arms folded. 

"Uh, you wanted to see me?" the clone asked. 

"Was there an ambush?" White Fire demanded.

The clone resisted the urge to scratch the back of his head. "Ah, no. I thought there was, but it was just a . . . um automatic . . . feature of the sparring room. That's all. It knocked our radios out. Sorry about that."

"You interrupted me for a false alarm?" White Fire snarled, striding forward. 

"Well, I didn't know it was a false alarm at the time," Blue Earth defended himself. 

The other ninja stopped inches from his face. "If you ever interrupt me when I've given orders against it, I will rip your intestines out and strangle you with them. Are we clear?"

Blue Earth nodded once. "Yes, sir."

White Fire blew by him, slamming the door hard. The clone shuddered once. That had been way too close.

* * *

The mercenary flew up the stairs. He really needed to relieve some stress and knew that Hoshi would be willing to help him with that. He rounded a corner and looked up, just in time to see a flash of blond hair disappear around a corner. 

_What the hell? _

White Fire sprinted forward and grabbed the hair, tugging it back against him. Blond hair, blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek. _The boy Chikao was training._

The boy brought his hands up in a seal and White Fire jammed two fingers into a pressure point on his neck. No point in killing the brat. Instead of slumping into his arms, however, the boy vanished in a puff of smoke. 

_A clone! _

There was a shouted swear word and a short scream a moment later. White Fire ran down the hallway and threw open the door to the room Hoshi was in just as the real blond boy opened it. 

They stared at each other, eyes wide. Naruto was shocked because he'd been caught. White Fire was shocked because it looked like Hoshi had been about to seduce him. 

White Fire recovered faster. "Getting caught with your pants down . . . how embarrassing." He slugged him. 

* * *

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* * *

Been a while, huh? I would be surprised if anyone was still interested. R&R if you still are, please.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

One of Hyoka's guards snorted. "Really? You don't look like you have a bruise."

"I heal fast." Naruto glared him down.

"Will you quit interrupting?" Hyoka snapped. "Naruto, continue."

_Last night . . ._

Naruto staggered under the force of the ninja's blow. He ended up sprawled out on the floor.

"What the _hell _took you so long?" Hoshi demanded. "I nearly had to have sex with that brat to keep him here!"

"Nearly?" White Fire repeated. "So you didn't actually—"

Hoshi sneered. "No, of course not. Though if you hadn't come in, I might have."

They both shuddered. White Fire called into his radio for backup, and to alert Roka they'd bring the brat down soon.

Naruto struggled to his feet. "What—what is going on?"

"Simple, little boy," White Fire answered. "Hoshi has been working for Roka all this time. You have just been caught."

Naruto stared at Hoshi, who smirked back. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you're that naïve."

"Up, little boy," White Fire grinned. "There's someone who really wants to meet you."

The workers arrived as the fire died down. Everyone cheered as they rushed forward and began to beat down the remaining flames. Black Mist smirked.

_They praise those who bring their destruction. _

After a short while, the last of the sparks was gone. More workers brought floodlights in as night descended. As the crews began to clear out the rubble, no one noticed the few that slipped into the basement and hurried to the wall.

Naruto's mind was spinning as White Fire dragged him down the hall. His body was still feeling _funny _from whatever Hoshi had been doing, and his jaw was throbbing. Had he really been captured?

"Won't Roka be pleased?" Hoshi laughed. "We caught his little rat."

"Indeed. Though he'll have to tell us exactly what he's been doing," White Fire replied, tightening his grip on Naruto's arm.

Hoshi smirked. "Oh, he already told me. He's been taking out your soldiers and replacing them with disguised clones. Guess your men aren't as good as you think."

White Fire stopped and grabbed Hoshi's arm with his free hand. "Don't you go insulting my soldiers, you little—"

"Who caught him, _White Fire?" _Hoshi sneered. "All of your little code names aren't good for anything are they?"

Naruto started to twist. It was slow and gentle, but both his captors were distracted and if he could get away before that backup arrived—

Well, he wasn't sure precisely what he would do, but it would certainly involve running.

"Those names are for our protection," White Fire snapped.

"And they're just _soooo _cool," Hoshi retorted. "Make you all special."

"Shut up, you little whore!" White Fire let go of Naruto's arm and drew his hand back to hit her.

Naruto started to scramble away, intent on getting as far as possible before they noticed, but there was someone standing at the end of the hall.

"That's enough, White Fire," Roka said. The ninja and Hoshi snapped their heads to face Roka. "You must really learn to control yourself."

Naruto scanned the hall, looking desperately for some way to escape this. Roka noticed and laughed. "You won't be getting away just yet, boy. Bring him to the study. I'd like to talk to him. Also, test all of the guards to see if they're clones."

White Fire nodded sharply, then grabbed Naruto's arm again and dragged him to his feet. "Come on, brat."

Naruto lashed out with his leg, but White Fire jumped over it. He brought his hand up and jabbed some pressure points on Naruto's neck. The blond slumped against his captor; all feeling had gone out of his legs. He was thrown over the man's shoulder.

"Hey," the blond shouted. "Put me down!"

"Hoshi, go back down with the other hostages. Work up some tears if you can," Roka ordered.

She nodded and hurried past the ninjas. White Fire followed Roka through the twisting corridors of the mansion, Naruto still hanging over his shoulder and seething.

"Hey, Ro-kuku! Crazy man!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder.

White Fire jabbed Naruto in his side and the teenager hissed. "Don't disrespect Roka that way," the mercenary snapped.

"Well, he hasn't done anything to earn my respect," Naruto shot back. _Damn! Why aren't my legs working? _

White Fire threw Naruto down on the couch in the library and raised his hand to hit him, but Roka grabbed his arm. "The boy has a point. Respect must be earned. Go see how many of your _Jounins _he managed to capture and replace."

He released White Fire's arm and the man spun around to stomp out of the room. Naruto lunged toward the end table and picked up the most breakable things on it. With a roar of rage, he started hurtling them at White Fire's back. The other ninja whipped around and caught it in midair.

"Just leave," Roka ordered, snatching the other objects out of the air. Having run out of fragile things, and with his target slamming the door behind him, Naruto switched to throwing books at Roka.

Roka frowned deeply as he carefully laid the books he caught on the desk. "Didn't your parents teach you any respect for books, boy?"

Naruto snorted. "What parents?" He reached blindly for another thing to throw, but it turned out he had chucked everything on the table. He started to drag himself to the table so he could actually pick it up and throw it, but Roka saw what he was doing and moved the table far away from him.

"Why are you doing this, Naruto?" he asked, settling himself on the edge of the couch. "Why do you insist on fighting me?"

"Because you invaded the old man's house and locked them all up!" Naruto shouted, takng wild swings at Roka.

He just sighed and shifted out of his reach. "Yes, but have we really hurt anyone?"

"Yeah!" Naruto tried to scramble closer to keep punching at Roka, but the cushions had come loose and he ended up slipping onto the floor. Roka smirked. Naruto continued to shout. "That White Fire guy killed Udon!"

Roka frowned in confusion. "Oh, you mean our spy. Well, he's just a spy. Traitors deserve to be killed."

Naruto didn't respond, choosing instead to focus all of his energy dragging himself across the floor. Roka considered the boy for a moment, then threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, but you would disagree, wouldn't you? After all, the reason that you came here was to train, right? To get your friend, the last Uchiha back."

"Shut up!" Naruto roared. "You don't know anything about me!"

Roka laughed. He turned and paced around the ornate library. "Oh, I know more about you than you think, Uzumaki Naruto. I know that you're the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, for one."

Naruto stopped wriggling and stared up at Roka, eyes narrowed and wary. The older man smiled genially. "I know that Uchiha Sasuke betrayed you," he continued. "And that you've been training with that perverted Toad Sage for the past two years so that you could get strong enough to bring him back to Konoha. Just out of curiosity, how much have you learned from the great Jiraiya-sama?"

"Plenty!" Naruto shouted. He flexed his toes, finally getting some feeling back in them.

Roka chuckled, pouring a glass of something clear and alcoholic. "Not enough to keep yourself out of trouble, eh?"

Naruto growled and clawed himself forward, shoving off with his toes as much as possible. "Shut up, you nutjob!" Naruto shouted.

"Oh, but you'll want to hear what I have to say," Roka said. He took a sip of the liquid and swirled it around his glass. "Even though he betrayed you, you would do anything to save your Uchiha friend from Orochimaru, right?"

"Yeah!" Naruto roared unthinkingly. "Anything!"

Roka hid his smirk behind another swallow of the drink. "And to save him, you need to be strong, right?"

Naruto scowled up at the man and continued to army-crawl across the floor. "Duh! What are you, crazy _and _stupid?"

"Just checking," the other man assured him. He wandered over to the desk and traced his finger over the main street of the Village Hidden in the Mist.

Naruto watched him and huffed, moving his feet back and forth as feeling returned to them. He noted where Roka was focusing. "Why a bakery, anyway?" he asked. "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What, was it the only place you could get on short notice?"

Roka stopped and turned to him, a smile playing across his face. "Short notice?" he laughed. "Boy, whatever makes you think this is short notice, or ill-planned?"

The prone blond froze on the floor, confusion crossing his features. Roka strolled over to him and crouched down, grinning in his face. "I've been working on this for years." The smile slid away. "We have people everywhere."

Naruto struggled and flipped over onto his back, watching as Roka paced across the floor. "You and I have much the same goals, Naruto," he admitted. "You are trying to save someone you love. So am I. My brother was falsely imprisoned. He is innocent of the crimes he was accused of. The Mizukage will not listen to me, so I am forced to take drastic actions."

"He seemed like a good guy to me," Naruto shot back. "He even taught me some stuff."

"He is a good actor," Roka acknowledged. "But let me tell you-he is working for the destruction of the Water country."

Skepticism radiated from Naruto. "Really."

The rogue ninja nodded. "All of the country's monetary resources are tied up in one bank, one building. He has complete control of the this country's financial situation. Even if it isn't evil, per se, it is suspicious. Why would he insist upon all the money in one bank, just down the street from his building?"

Naruto was silent. Why would the Mizukage do that? To his knowledge, Sarutobi or Tsunade hadn't done anything like that . . . No. He'd met the man. "He wouldn't do that," Naruto asserted. "I trust him."

Roka laughed and finished off his drink. "Haven't you learned not to trust everyone you meet?"

* * *

Hyoka paced back and forth. He'd heard not a peep from Roka since the bombing of the bakery. _A bakery? _He still couldn't puzzle that one out. Even now, there were big machines in the remnants of the bakery, demolishing the huge, clumsy chunks. He could hear them whirring away.

Workers were moving in and out as well, taking evidence, looking for clues. The rest of the city was being swept from top to bottom. He didn't want to risk anymore bombings and it made everyone _feel _safe. Of course, if terrorists were really loose, they would be able to plant bombs anywhere, or just blow up a building with a jutsu.

Just like there was nothing he could do for his brother. His stupid, idiot brother.

_No, it's not his fault. He just has terrible luck._

Hyoka sighed and buried his face in his hands. There was no way to get to his brother, because of the immense, extravagant security measures. Paranoid Chikao.

_Well, he certainly has a reason to be. Two out of his three genins are nuts and the third is dead. _No wonder he became a hermit.

* * *

The sun had set several hours ago, and the only light in the room came from the meager fire. Chikao glared at the guards. Despite their requests, the mercenaries had refused to feed the fire more than was absolutely necessary. At least they'd provided food.

Hoshi had not returned. His worry for her increased with every minute. He had no special attachment to the girl, but found the idea of rape abhorrent. He'd never condoned it, no matter how many cities he'd ransaked. He glared at the guards, cut

in half thought they were. A good portion of them had been Naruto's clones, and the originals the blond had replaced had not yet recovered.

Chikao sighed, shooting a look over his servants. Thankfully, they'd abandoned the notion of a rebellion. He still had some authority in his house.

No, now his greatest worry was the little brat. He knew that if they'd destroyed the clones, Naruto had been found. The problem was how to avoid the disaster that would follow when Naruto agreed to train with Roka. Roka would have no issues with exploiting the boy, or the demon. He had to find a way to take Naruto out before that could happen.

The door opened and a familiar blond figure was thrown in. One of the servants hurried over and helped him up. Chikao's eyes narrowed. He had been caught, but Roka had disabled his legs and not tried to turn him. Why?

But of course, Roka had become sneaky in the past few years. He would have planted doubts in his head, suggested that he could offer great power to help him. And Naruto wouldn't even realize it until someone explained everything to him.

_Now that's an idea. _No one liked to be played. Despite his goofy attitude, Naruto had a certain amount of pride. He had the idea that he was independent, the maker of his own destiny. He wouldn't like to know that someone, an apparent enemy no less, was manipulating him.

The only question was if his pride or his desire for power would win out.

* * *

So, yeah, I'm still here. And I know about the whole Madara/Mizukage thing recently revealed, but I'm ignoring it.

Sorry about the delay. The eternal delay. Okay, I will update next Wednesday. See, if I tell you, then I have to update, or I'm breaking my word and letting you down. there. Feel free to send me hate mail if I don't.

It's almost been a year since I started this. Ugh. I feel so pathetic right now.

* * *


End file.
